Floria 1974

Directed by Roger Jacoby

Experimental filmmaker Roger Jacoby animates his muse, Ondine, as the villainous Scarpia in snippets from Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca." Freely mixing melodramatic gestures from his actors with a ruined soundtrack of static and full-on textural experiments that simulate decayed nitrate film bursting with color or fading to white, Jacoby finds emotional release in repeating Floria Tosca's leap to her death. A visual feast from the former painter who shows a creative command of celluloid, both figural and abstract. - Marilyn Ferdinand