The relationship between forms in nature and their interpretation in art is explored in independent avant-garde filmmaker Wayne Sourbeer’s gentle and thoughtful film. Sourbeer follows abstract impressionist painter Corban LePell as he creates one painting, neatly juxtaposing LePell’s various processes with the images in nature that influence him. An original score by Marvin Granostaff completes the circle.
Wayne Sourbeer deftly combines visual forms, the original poetry of Kansas-born poet Charles Plymell and an original music score by David Levinson, who was at the time, associate conductor of the Wichita Symphony. Montage II: Ephemeral Blue is the quintessential example of what continental film critics have called “non-verbal communication.” Sourbeer’s images are the foundation for Plymell’s verbal abstractions and Levinson’s brilliant musical score.
Vibrant, bursting with color (shot in the late, and much lamented Kodachrome) and ringing with bells and whistles, Wayne Sourbeer’s ode to the joys of the lowly pinball machine is a visual feast; Colored balls whiz, clink, and crash across the laminated landscapes. Dim bulbs illuminate the gaudy caricatures that stare back at the player. Neon lights flash in streaks of hot pink, red, and blue.
