Partial Visions is a screening series that promotes film culture at UML by screening a mix of classical and contemporary films that explore and experiment with cinematic suspense, psychological thrills, narrative complexity, identity, and point of view. It is designed to provide a space for the discussion and appreciation of film and film history, as well as to promote the film minor at UML.
For its inaugural screening, Partial Visions will be presenting Robert Montgomery’s bold but often misunderstood 1947 noir masterpiece, Lady in the Lake. Shot almost entirely in optical point-of-view shots, this Philip Marlowe whodunit was a flop at the box office that nearly tanked Montgomery’s reputation at MGM. But its unique experiment with the first-person perspective has had a lasting impact on a broad range of media in the digital age, from first-person video games to art-cinematic explorations of digital cinema like Russian Ark, and its creative use of the limits of the cinematic frame has played an important role in the history of film criticism and theory. A discussion and Q&A about the film will follow the screening.