Film and Video
Waterfront Week

The Spectacular Optical exhibit at SoHo's Threadwaxing Space (476 Broadway) is a group show that includes the fantastical props of David Cronenberg. Through July 18th you can see the creepy gynecological instruments from Dead Ringers, the miniature hybrid models from the Fly, and the virtual reality mask from Videodrome. And as if the talking beetle/bunghole from Naked Lunch wasn't enough to lure you in, you can also check out “No Is Yes”, a new video by Laura Parnes. In a written statement about her video, Parnes says, "‘No Is Yes’ combines experimental and narrative approaches to explore the co-option of counter-culture." The 40-minute video is polished, compelling, and deliciously caustic. Parnes's story successfully and subversively tweaks the "coming of age" genre with a tale of two trendy Brooklyn teenagers (well played by real-life sisters Erica and Jennifer Daking) and the night they accidentally kill their favorite alt-rock hero, Jimmy Junk (played with swarmy, druggy authenticity by Joey Friolli).

An "art video' that plays like a dark over-medicated afterschool special, No Is Yes is one of the better examples of what video can do that I've seen lately. (Many video-makers need to learn where the stop button is.) Stylistically reminiscent of '80s cult fave Liquid Sky, No Is Yes is a very "now" production, right down to the carefully-chosen music by bands like New York's Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. Whether viewers will pick up on the correlation of patriarchal co-option to marketable rebellion and nihilism is debatable as well as irrelevant; the piece unfolds and works on its own, despite skating dangerously close to self-aggrandizing its intended message. Like the Cronenberg pieces, Parnes's work in the Spectacular Optical exhibit is also represented by her video's props, making for an intriguing installation that effectively takes the viewer into the world of the characters, complete with the teenagers very own bed..

CHRIS LEE