zachary oberzan

by sam regan-edwards

‘Speculations on the Animatic Oberzan’ is a video essay on the films of Zachary Oberzan, situating his achievements within post-structuralist and deconstructionist theory. As Oberzan’s first film is a one-man adaptation of Rambo: First Blood and his most recent work is a shot-for-shot remake of Close Up, his films work as much with reference itself as they do with traditional understandings of narrative filmmaking. This essay takes a path through many theories of thought and film to examine what it means to work with reference, and what to do with a work constructed mostly from references.

Over the running time, an exploration of what it means to think, write and live, reveals the impossibility of ‘fully’ understanding anything. It elaborates on the merits – necessity, even – of thinking to the limits of understanding anyway.