Phantom Limb

"The death of my seven-year-old brother when I was nine remains a painful and haunting memory. My parents did not know how to cope with the loss of their child and the entire family experienced indescribable pain." (Jay Rosenblatt) I had read about Rosenblatt's short films, but the recent Museum of Modern Art screening of his newest work was my first chance to see one. Rosenblatt works by re-assembling found footage - old educational and corporate training movies, mostly - into poetic collages. For Phantom Limb, he weaves in his own family's amateur movies to create a very personal rumination on the childhood loss of his younger brother. There are parts of this picture that, were I to describe them, would sound very tough to watch, and others that might seem dull. Yet I was in awe for every one of the 28 minutes, and the MoMA crowd was spellbound.