A sorte dos danados

Sometimes video essays function in much the same way icons do, those small-scale paintings that express a single idea, a singular belief, a simple but profound conviction. This short video by Ricardo Vieira Lisboa for the Portuguese site À pala de Walsh is a great example. It focuses on one specific thought, at first only articulated in words, then visualizes that thought so it takes on an iconic power that the original worded formulation could only hint at.

 

The idea in this case is a perceived kinship between the characters played by Adrienne Barbeau in Escape From New York and by Alida Valli in The Third Man, respectively. Ricardo Vieira Lisboa finds a creative way to depict that affinity. Rather than making a more classic mash-up of both films, he superimposes Valli’s face on Barbeau’s body. It is a disarmingly crude technique: irreverent and mischievous, yet also… iconic.