L. Cohen

“In Benning’s L. Cohen, we’re witness of how the sunset unravels in an Oregon farm field landscape (something that brings to mind Tacita Dean’s Banewl, and her take on an eclipse event in a dairy farm). After 30 or more minutes of footage, a song by Leonard Cohen plays for a while. Nothing else happens, at least at first sight. But in the background, after a first look, the landscape reveals itself: its noises, the desolation, and the movement of civilization behind it. Leonard Cohen’s song could be seen as a tribute, or as a fitting accompanying piece to the film, either way it adds to the melancholy, and it’s a reward for the patient spectator. This poetry of landscapes, the unraveling of the uneventful has made James Benning one of the most daring experimental filmmakers of his time.” (desistfilm.com)

Ithaca Premiere