O

From the "Chicago-Scope: The Films of Tom Palazzolo, 1967–1976" catalogue: "One of Tom Palazzolo's first films, this inspired in part by René Clair’s 1924 film starring Francis Picabia, Entr’acte. O’s use of double exposure, free association and improvisation, chiaroscuro, and a nonsensical “musique concrète” soundtrack pay homage to these masters of Dada and Surrealism."

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01:34Copy video clip URL Title

01:38Copy video clip URL Sequential shots of women running in slow motion to grab keys on the hood of a car in the middle of a drag racing runway. Ambient noise is played throughout. Doll caricatures of human faces are shown sitting in the front seat of a car. A women’s legion bearing flags marches in a parade.

02:43Copy video clip URL Collage of acrobats and circus performers on stage and conducting aerial stunts with trapezes and multiple other apparatus. The use of double exposure appears throughout along with a shifting dynamic of speeds, ambient noise, and nebulous human sounds.

06:30Copy video clip URL More acrobats perform routines on a vertical rope suspended from an apparatus above. Images of grotesque masks and consumer regalia interlace with acrobatic performances.

08:20Copy video clip URL Discordant sounds enter and various types of masculinity and femininity are presented. Glowing lights from carnival rides appear. A women’s pom-pom troupe marches to a routine, their motion subjected to divergent changes in speed, exposure, and forward or backward movement. Images from nighttime carnival rides reappear, contrasted with the shadowy delineation of human figures.

10:48Copy video clip URL Two fighters appear, one whose face is shrouded in a white cloth. The roving, tortuous contours of a roller coaster intermix with riders in a circulatory half-barrel rotor ride, blending together the riders in centrifugal force.

12:00Copy video clip URL A man in a drag racing car. The letter “O” appears. It is on a cover sheet with the words “Tom Palazzolo” and “Sound Boire.”