Perils

An homage to silent films: the clash of ambiguous innocence and unsophisticated villainy; seduction, revenge, jealousy, combat. The isolation and dramatization of emotions through the isolation (camera) and dramatization (editing) of gesture. I had long conceived of a film composed only of reaction shots in which all causality was erased. What would be left would be the resonant voluptuous suggestions of history and the human face. “Perils” is a first translation of these ideas. (AC) “Even more emphatic in its expose of movie methods is ‘Perils,’ which stages stylized fight scenes, with an occasional appearance by a camera on a tripod, in a rubble strewn lot. Child toys with conventions of structure – she likes to number her ‘acts’ and ends ‘Perils’ with the promise, ‘To be continued.’ Narrative logic is her playground…Child proclaims ‘My goal is to disarm my movies.’ That she does.” – Katherine Dieckmann, The Village Voice