Time We Killed, The

“The Time We Killed” is a lush B&W experimental narrative that portrays the life and imaginings of a writer unable to leave her New York City apartment. Robyn Taylor tries to comprehend and fight her growing agoraphobia by looking into her own past and confronting the world events of the present (from a murder-suicide next door to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq). Robyn’s obsessive ruminations threaten to drive her deeper into the solitude of an illusory world, until a personal encounter with death prompts her to leave the safety of home once again. Documentary material, scripted and improvised scenes are interwoven to create a hybrid of true fiction in this subjective and poetic film. As Robyn gets lost in reveries of another time and place, an intricate film montage flashes before the eyes: abstracted impression of people, places and animals once-loved. The “talking cure” of psychoanalysis is evoked as Robyn’s history and unconscious struggles unfold in a free-associative voice-over of her thoughts and writings. As Robyn becomes increasingly disconnected from people she once knew, flashbacks of her childhood come to visit her for the first time. Robyn’s shock at U.S. military aggressions remind her that she is a citizen of the world and ultimately shake her out of her self-imposed isolation. “A stellar example of personal filmmaking operating on multiple levels: psychological, sociological, political, and even technological.” – Mark Peranson, Cinemascope, Spring 2004 Awards: FIPRESCI Critics Prize, Berlin International Film Festival, 2004; Best NY, NY Narrative Feature, Tribeca Film Festival, 2004; Outstanding Artistic Achievement, Outfest Los Angeles, 2004