February 8th, 2008
What if public art came to life?
By Christopher DeWolf // 4 Comments
I don't think I've ever been more awed---or creeped out---by public art as I was when I first passed through Monk metro, beneath the giant metal sculptures meant to represent the construction workers who built the metro. In the vast concrete belly of the station, there is something eerie, otherworldly and epic about them; their frozen state seems impermanent, as if they will resume their work as soon as I turn away.
That's the idea behind Terminus, a short film posted earlier this week by Andrew Chau on urban-ism. Set in 1970s Montreal, and mostly in the metro, it follows a man's descent into lunacy as he is followed by a large concrete sculpture, which stands over him incessantly, its gaze expectant. Soon, the man starts seeing public installations following other people. A woman walks down a metro corridor as one of Villa-Maria station's round mural sculptures rolls behind her; a man is hounded by Beaudry's moving sidewalk; a child is followed by Pierryves Anger's Le Malheureux Magnifique.
The film also does great work in bringing out the creepiness inherent in so much 70s-era art, architecture and design in Montreal. It'll be something to think about next time you're descending into the concrete abyss of Lucien L'Allier or Place-Saint-Henri.
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Thanks for posting.
I liked the short but was put off by the fact that the filmmaker decided to rename métro Sherbrooke "Canal" and added a sound to usher the train into the station, a sound which is completely foreign to our metro system. If the film is purportedly set in Montreal, then why take deliberate measures to disguise it, render the setting generic, or, worse yet, make misleading reference to another city?
Another reason to niggle, we get the impression that métro Sherbrooke is our protagonist's starting point in his commute to work and yet it appears to be his starting point on his way home from work as well.
whoa easy there.
maybe it was for copyright/legal reasons.
this movie is distinctly montreal, no one can deny that. so what if they changed the name, and did some audio editing - its a movie, a constructed reality.
i thought it was brilliant. especially the sound of the concrete legs on the tiles. Montreal's metro is beautiful - the best in this nation by far - in terms of providing space for public art, in terms of its expansive spaces, its architecture, and its overall usefulness.
bravo
I didn't see any disclaimer that this was a 'Ville de Montreal' tourism docudrama based on Montreal or it's Metro network. It's called creativity, and these film makers have it in spades. Kudos to the architects of our city's stations for creating such an incredible backdrop for this remarkable short.
I personally think they should have made the Metro sound like the Lightcycles in Tron. :P
The movie was partly shot in Montreal but isn't really set here: they created an imaginary metro station called "Canal" and added train track sound effects in the metro scenes. They succeed pretty well in creating a nonspecific, slightly dreamlike collage setting.
Some of the exteriors were definitely not shot here, either. I recall reading that they were done somewhere out west.
Comment by Kate M.
February 8, 2008 | 1:53 am