Is cinema a business or an artform… or an at-times uneasy alliance between the two very different ideologies? Some directors like David Lynch and Ridley Scott have been able to work successfully in both spheres, creating striking films like The Elephant Man and The Duellists respectively that cross that chasm-like divide. It’s interesting then to come across a film that is mostly concerned with cinema as a visual artform playing on the big screen, without much apparent consideration for its commercial prospects. ‘Perennial Light’ is such a film, funded by the Arts Council and made by one-man filmmaking army Colin Hickey. He directs, writes, produces, shoots, edits and acts in his film. Maybe he even did the on-set catering too, but one has to admire a filmmaker willing to wear multiple hats in the film industry.
‘Perennial Light’ has the air of a documentary about it, given that it’s composed of multiple shots of people staring out into the distance, environments natural and man-made, animals in action and a place where voiceover might be appropriate but is absent. In fact, there’s no dialogue at all here – at least not audible anyway. That’s something of a surprise in the modern age, though it’s not a silent film. It’s more of an ambient film, wherein everything else is heard except dialogue. Following on from his previous two similarly-structured features, Hickey constructs an experimental film of sorts that layers natural sounds and music over some beautifully-composed black and white imagery of Cork locations including Cobh. Added onto that are occasional inserts of hand-drawn animation by Paolo Chianta which is often symbolic – literal butterflies in the stomach at one point.
It’s very pretty to look at, as characters gaze out pensively on the water and engage with nature in a Terrence Malick-like way. There’s only a whisper of a plot though which puts the film at a remove from the audience, of which it’s not exactly clear who this film is aimed at. It mainly follows a character through his youth, teenage years and adulthood (Hickey himself) still affected by childhood trauma. Trying to convey that complexity without dialogue is a challenge in itself and Hickey nearly hobbles himself in the process. This is not the easiest film to engage with. Fortunately, the editing of the live action shots with the expressive animation gets it over the line to make the film relatable on a human level. It has a gentle air of change about it, that time passes and people heal as new life is brought into the world.
‘Perennial Light’ is visual poetry in motion that is in a reflective mood throughout. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but those of an artistic leaning might find it unlike anything else playing at the moment. Credit then to Hickey for managing to get his little art film into commercial cinemas, running up against screen-gobbling competition like the juggernaut musical ‘Wicked’. We won’t begrudge him that.
