The premise alone is enough to draw your attention: Station to Station is 62 one-minute films back to back, all made over the course of a 4,000 mile train trip by a wide array of artists and musicians. The film as a whole is more akin to a curated exhibit with all kinds of types of art and methods of using the medium.

One minute is not a lot of time – therefore the film doesn’t lose its pace because it switches gears so often. While 62 different films may seem completely incoherent, there are two elements which hold the project together. The first is the trip itself: the train ride and the various “happenings” where the train stopped and would display its various artists. A handful dabble into the themes surrounding train travel and the American landscape (not surprisingly these are the best ones) while others focus on the people on the trip. The second piece holding it together is that for the most part the films all keep a similar style, displaying each artist or member one by one, and only a few manage to truly deviate. This is unfortunate in that there are multiple shorts that are similar enough I wonder if the same person directed them, even though each one is given a different credit. By the end of the film, you’ve seen so many, it is difficult to recall the pieces except for a handful of true standouts.

While the art experiment and the journey was probably an enlightening experience for everyone involved, the film never is able to take on as powerful an experience for the viewer.

 

While the art experiment and the journey was probably an enlightening experience for everyone involved, the film never is able to take on as powerful an experience for the viewer. Because the film is always changing, it is hard to stay connected, and many of the short films are little more than documentations of a given artist. 62 one-minute films by 62 different visionary directors is what you’ll be expecting, only to find that the films are made primarily by visual and musical artists for whom filmmaking is a secondary art. The result is far less memorable than it potentially could be. The handful of the films that truly deviate or take on a more radically unique approach are the standouts, but they are surrounded by less memorable films.

I am also wary of the effectiveness of one minute for conveying information. I admire the experiment, and love the theme of railroad travel (which isn’t utilized nearly as much as it could be), but don’t feel as though the collective results are particularly inspiring. The good news is that if you aren’t too crazy about one of the shorts, it will be over within 60 seconds. The bad news is the same for the more intriguing shorts. Such is the nature of an anthology.

I would love to see more storytellers emulate this experiment, perhaps focusing more on filmmaking as opposed to other art forms. It isn’t to discredit the talent of each of the artists, but it becomes extremely clear for many that their short film doesn’t fully capture their essence the way seeing them live or being on the train with them would bring. Instead, I would love to see a train trip (or something equivalent) of 62 filmmakers who each direct a radically different one minute short all within a same theme. This is what I had expected to see with Station to Station, and unfortunately, the result is less cinematic and more archival. I admire the experiment that this group of people have put together, and would love to see another film that takes its structure up to the next level.

Station to Station opens at the Nuart Theater this Friday.