Sex, Theater and Citynoise in the City of Light

Paris, France - vz - Saturday, May 21st, 2005 : goo

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The Boulevard Clichy, a slow Sunday night, the proprietor of a sex shop puts on his wistful face and poses for a photo. In the background, the heart-shaped neon sign of a similarly themed establishment provides the perfect counterbalance. Inbetween, the out-of-focus silhouettes of exhausted British weekend-trippers fill an area of space that would otherwise look just a little too desolate.

Now, let's head south. But, what's this? Suddenly, the line 13 becomes a puppet show, with some happy popsong and zany birds that feel hopelessly out of place. The man in the foreground scowls with disdain and looks away, despite secretly yearning to let himself enjoy this random little moment of levity. Others are visibly amused. The whole contraption, curtain, puppets, queued-up tape deck and all, takes less than five seconds to put together and pull apart. Right after he collects his donations and walks out, that's when you realize that that was the first thing other than mechanical sounds and the occasional muffled cough that you'd heard in almost half an hour. For this interruption in your monotony, you feel vaguely grateful.

Montparnasse, zooming lights on a deserted boulevard. Back out of the metro, the crisp night air hits your skin and pulls you out of the sleeplike stupor of the last seat in the warm, vibrating train car, like sobering up by being splashed with a glass of cold water. You jaywalk, immersed in thought, thought about this night, this city, this life.

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elaine: nice! i love that last shot so much!

Vuolk: Vtoroi bespesdi!

Laura : That first shot is just...amazing.

Biff: Great images very Hitchcock...

elif: adore the first shot - or rather, j'adore!

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