Traps 1967

Directed by Jon Jost

Working for the first time with sound, I made TRAPS, a film scripted in jail on hearing of an acquaintance’s suicide, and LEAH. Both are “portraits” of alienated young women. TRAPS is harsh in both form and content, with long takes speaking to the camera juxtaposed against long silent sequences as, in an argument by accretion, the grounds for alienation are piled up. Ostensibly a “documentary self-portrait” made by the woman of the film, TRAPS’ seemingly uncohesive segments crystallize only at the last moment when the neutral narrator (and alleged “editor” ) informs the viewer that the woman committed suicide.