Feel the Fear1990

In “Feel the Fear” (1990, 24 minutes) images and ideas about television viewing, self-help therapy, alcohol use, acting, mimicry and social responsibility are linked by metaphoric and formal similarities to imitate connections of cause and effect.   But the suggestion of causal logic doesn’t hold up and becomes increasingly skewed.  The film’s structure is a metaphor for the contradictions of the culture in which it was made.

“In Feel the Fear we’re treated to a journey into the brain’s processes for getting looped, sort of like a hip episode of The Infinite Voyage. But alcohol is just the starting point, and for all the endearing campiness of old science films, Filippo makes us continually aware of the darker question sub rosa – who’s controlling all this reality anyway…”

-Heather Mackey

Film Critic, San Francisco Bay Guardian

Selected screenings: San Francisco Cinematheque, Los Angeles Film Forum, Cinema Du Musee, Pacific Film Archives.