If you want to see full train runbys with a fixed camera, this is the film for you! All 111 minutes of it. It was shown at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle this evening, one night only. James Benning is a reasonably well-known independent filmmaker who created this in 2008. He set out to film around 70 full train runbys using a fixed camera position - no movement, no pan shots, just train and sound. LOTS of sound. Benning forces the focus of the viewer on the myriad sounds made by both freight and passenger (very few passenger shots). Many of the runbys are in prairie or desert country with little background distraction. He concentrates on Class I's, with one Wisconsin Central train, but mostly UP, BNSF, NS, and at least two CP trains.

He does capture the variety of equipment used by railroads to haul freight - mixed consists, auto racks, containers, coal, and a NS M of W train with lots of track repair equipment on flat cars.

What Benning's point was in making the film escapes me. I stayed for an after-discussion and it was interesting hearing a film critic and members of the audience explaining their own artistic interpretations of Benning's point of view. Many of the comments seemed like so much aesthetic mumble jargon (and I've worked as a critic, though not in film), and I couldn't justify in my own mind much of the interpretation given. Oh well!

It's certainly an interesting experience to view the film, at least for the first hour. There are some great shots - coming off the Great Salt Lake, a l-o-n-g viaduct on NS - perhaps Lake Pontchartrain, Walong (I heard murmurs of surprise from the audience when the train reentered the scene to cross over itself), Keddie Wye, and along the Coast Line in California. But lots of b-o-r-i-n-g scenes. Perhaps he was trying to make a point.

Would make an interesting show for WinterRail...