Event

Sabbatical

Mar 29

(Brandon Colvin, 2014, United States, 72 min)

Director Brandon Colvin in attendance!
Seattle premiere!

Sunday, Mar 29 at 05:00PM

Ben Hardin (Robert Longstreet) is a lethargically neurotic Kierkegaard professor who goes back to his small hometown on a sabbatical (intended for writing) to take care for his mother after a stroke. A ruminative deconstruction of the lonesome sentiment that we can never go home again, the film follows Ben as he gets reacquainted with, and subsequently re-alienated from, the old relationships and trappings of his life. As he struggles to maintain his aloof composure while interacting with his deadbeat brother, addled mother and lonely ex-wife, Ben's own shortcomings are thrown in sharper relief.

Economically composed of sixty nearly-still long takes, Sabbatical's precise framing, subtle yet absurdist humor and drained color palette evoke influences ranging from Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi to Carl Th. Dreyer to Robert Bresson. Colvin's sharp, sparse and formally rigorous style signals a cinematic voice worth keeping an ear and eye on.