Ode

Description

Kelly Reichardt in Person

"It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day" (Bobbie Gentry, 1967). With that limpid line an entire period is wistfully evoked: the contradictory 1960s, a time of dreamy innocence and fitful loss. Lyrically naturalistic, Ode brings the legendary love story of Billy Joe McAllister and Bobbie Lee Hartley to the slippery slope of 1990s morality. Meeting secretly in the secluded woods of Choctaw Ridge, Bobbie Lee, a timorous teen with overbearing parents, and Billy Joe, an inarticulate but well-meaning youth, try to consummate their forbidden romance. Fleshed out by the languorous performances of Heather Gottlieb and Kevin Poole and keyed to a languid soundtrack by Will Oldham, Ode's chronicle of dim repression and dusky sexuality haunts its Southern landscape.—Steve Seid

• Written by Reichardt, based on the novel Ode to Billie Joe by Herman Raucher. Photographed by Reichardt. With Kevin Poole, Heather Gottlieb. (50 mins, DigiBeta)

Preceded by shorts:
Then a Year (2002). An experimental merging of abstract images and radio and TV audio excerpts, Then a Year is “lyrical, ominous, and evocative of how horribly love can hurt” (Village Voice). (14 mins, Digibeta). Travis (2004). The moving Travis underlines the grief of the mother of a fallen Iraq War soldier. (11 mins, BetaSP)

• (Total running time: 75 mins. From the artist)

More Info

Link

http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/filmseries/

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510.643.2197

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510.642.5249 (Box Office)

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