I’ve recently been following up the work of director Abel Ferrara and catching up on the films I haven’t seen (Mary, Driller Killer, Welcome To New York, Fear City). When Revelation Film Festival announced its online festival, COUCHED, which ran during July this year, and that one of its selected films was Siberia (2020), one of two recent collaborations between Ferrara and actor Willem Dafoe (the other being Tommaso), I was very keen. I bought a mini pass to Couched and settled in to watch Siberia on an iPad. It starts off following a barman (Dafoe) working in an isolated shack in the snowy mountains of Siberia. Then it starts to slowly turn surreal and follow dream logic, expanding into a trek across the globe to search for… the soul or something? Look, this is an Art film with a capital A. Ferrara and Dafoe really go for it, jumping off into the abyss to find their own Tree Of Life or spiritual 2001. You will either think it’s a pile of wank or give it the benefit of contemplation. I was kind of fascinated by it as much as I was scratching my head; Ferrara keeps the exploration to a 92 minute run time and every ten minutes it throws you for a loop with another strange image or moment (Dafoe attacked by a bear, Dafoe confronting his father played by Dafoe naturally, Dafoe having sex with multiple women, Dafoe dancing to ‘Dream Lover’ by Bobby Darin). Recommended (if you can take the trip).
VHS Tracking 