The Passage of the Bride (1980)

Solomons work some of the best of contemporary experimental film is difficult Its optical and moral density eludes language as if the films which are often dark and cracked were a palimpsest of obscured meaning His PASSAGE OF THE BRIDE is dedicated to Duchamps alter ego Rrose Selavy the title recalls Duchamps The Bride Stripped Bare by the Bachelors Even and is itself a readymade composed entirely from a 100foot roll of wedding footage and what appears to be the honeymoon BRIDE is hypnotic dreamy Solomon compulsively repeats recognizable images until they melt like distilled essences of the originals The brides run across a lawn her climb into a car a man her husband emerging from a swim all become undulating black and white swirls of grain ripples of water Manohla Dargis The Village Voice