The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Poetry film featuring T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." The idea to revisit Eliot's "Prufrock" came after hearing Claudia Rankine mention a line from the poem in an interview she did for her latest book, Just Us: An American Conversation (September 2020). Rankine's book explores how contemporary America finds itself, at home and in government, riven by a culture war in which aggression and defensiveness are on the rise. Rankine urges all Americans to begin dialogue with one another to explore the issues of white supremacy, race, and white privilege.

Eliot's line, "Should I, after tea and cake and ices, / Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?" highlighted by Rankine, mirrors the situation many Americans find ourselves in currently: forcing the subject and practicing the delicate diplomacy of disabuse.

The line–hidden inside a memory mosaic of missed opportunities and mortifying rejections in the poem–is the moment of decision: to dare to upset the tranquility and pleasant balance of the room or not. For Prufrock, the daring inquires are often selfish, carnal ones. The conversations many intrepid Americans are attempting / engineering / coaxing / facilitating with family and friends during this shifting moment in the American zeitgeist, however, are earnest, essential, and necessary. The very endeavor is courageous. And while the efforts are at times Sisyphean, they are vital nonetheless.

The original visual structure of the film included ~44 layers (One for every week since lockdown in March 2020.) and nods to Christian Marclay's "48 War Movies." The film's footage was taken almost exclusively during the 2020 Pandemic lockdown in addition to archival, home movie footage.

After we passed the year marker, the film was recut to underscore the feelings of restriction and the practice of self-restraint we now have the obligation to continue.