This past Wednesday, a meager eight viewers shuffled into the basement of the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts (LCVA) to watch the first film of the semester featured in the General Education Film Series: Reference a Different Frame.
The film this time around was “45365,” a documentary profiling the small town of Sidney, Ohio. As purely an observational film, it did just that – observe – and nothing more.
The title, featuring a particular zip code, might lead a prospective viewer to the conclusion that this film might illuminate someuniqueness evident in the area it features. Turns out the location of Sidney, Ohio is seemingly inconsequential. While the film successfully stitches together a portrait of life in Sidney (population 20,000), it lacks a structure or point of view engaging enough to draw in the viewer.
While the film lacked an engaging framework, the characters presented were undeniably interesting. Particularly, a lonely radio DJ is presented. He spends his life at the town radio station, giving his soul to providing great content, late at night, weekends and even on holidays.
As the film progresses, the audience is able to meet a series of interesting musicians, appearing in conjunction with a new number of the zip code flashing across the screen, including a trumpet player performing for an empty theatre and a young girl practicing in an abandoned house. Unfortunately, we really get no backstory or context on these people.
We also meet a police officer as he performs his duties over the course of the year and presents some potentially interesting insights on small-town life. After seeing him arresting kids, he makes it clear that they are being put away for the same offenses that their parents had been arrested for over 30 years ago.
These promising characters are not followed further and are interspersed with inconsequential conversationssuch as a high school boyfriend and girlfriend chatting on the phone while she paints her toenails.
Even more disappointing is the tapestry of these vignettes, which each had potential, but was not arranged in any form of arc that would provide the audience with a story or concept to follow. While observational documentaries may very well be more like moving “paintings” than narrative stories, the product still needs to be assembled artistically to provide the audience with a sense of completeness rather than providing a cure to insomnia.
While the “observational” style of documentary calls for a certain detachment, the net result was a confused audience which was more than evident when one woman in the audience called out “That’s it?” as the credits started to roll. We all sympathized and appreciated her honesty and left searching for caffeine to wake us back up.
So, what is the significance of “45365?” The answer is a mystery. It acts more like a qualitative study than a cinematic masterpiece. However, it would certainly provide an interesting sociological conversation on ubiquitous human nature.
The next film in the series, “Step Up to the Plate,” will be playing in Wygal theatre on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.
