Peep Show
Atom Egoyan (Canada, 1981, 7 min.)
In this early short film, Egoyan tells the story of a man, a woman, a personal ad, and a photo booth with a little something extra going on. A young man (John Ball) receives a personal ad from a young woman in a mall, and goes to a photo booth to take some pictures of himself in order to be able to respond to the ad. He doesn't seem to be happy with his first set of photos, and returns to the booth to take another set, this time turning his head so the images come out a little differently. Again, he's unsatisfied, and when he goes back for another set, a mysterious female presence shows up in the photos. He goes back for another set, but by this point, the machine's red light is on, prohibiting any more photos, which enrages the young man. He attacks the photo booth, and is escorted away by a mall security guard.
The film is silent with a musical soundtrack, is shot in black and white, and features a remarkable technique of animated color gels that tint parts of each shot. The color highlights and changes each scene, and its dynamic and surprising effects are difficult to explain or even capture in images. The film can be found on the first disc of Egoyan's "Family Viewing/Next of Kin" dvd, available on Netflix.
Contributed by Brian
