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| Reel steel. | |
| by Andrew MacGregor | |
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This delicate documentary from Archer's Mark director Robin Mason finds beauty in uncertainty as the filmmaker provides a moving snapshot of Port Talbot as talks to save the Welsh town's steelworks go down to the wire. Eschewing dialogue in favour of a vibrating score which mimics a machine churning away in the background, Mason and DP David Bird let the town's distinctive skyline tell its own story. With imposing structures looming over residential streets and smoke billowing into the sky from dusk until dawn, Port Talbot's historic bond with steel is emphatically emphasised. Glimpses of a car boot sale and a spot of fishing at dusk lend further texture to Mason's intimate map of the town. 16mm film stock provides a suitably grainy and wistful aesthetic, while the absence of dialogue is also a fitting device given the subject matter. As the plant's fate is discussed thousands of miles away behind closed doors, the thoughts of those immediately affected by any decision somehow seem lost in the ether.
Product Category: Short Films
Territory: UK
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