''Obselidia'' is a 2010 American

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film written and directed by Diane Bell in her directorial debut. It stars Michael Piccirilli, Gaynor Howe, and Frank Hoyt Taylor. It tells the story of a lonely

librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...

who believes love is obsolete until a road trip to

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth during summer. Death Valley's Badwat ...

with a beguiling cinema

projectionist A projectionist is a person who operates a movie projector, particularly as an employee of a movie theater. Projectionists are also known as "operators". Historical background N.B. The dates given in the subject headings are approximate. Early ...

teaches him otherwise. The film had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

on January 22, 2010, where it was awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Prize and the Excellence in Cinematography Award. It was then self-distributed, and received positive reviews from critics. At the 26th Independent Spirit Awards, it was nominated for Best First Screenplay (for Bell) and the John Cassavetes Award.

Plot

On his quest to catalogue soon obsolete occupations, George (Piccirilli) a librarian joins forces with a silent film projectionist (Howe), and together they journey to Death Valley to interview a maverick scientist (Hoyt Taylor) who is predicting the imminent end of the world.

Cast

* Michael Piccirilli as George * Gaynor Howe as Sophie * Frank Hoyt Taylor as Lewis * Chris Byrne as Mitch * Kim Beuché as Jennifer * Michael Blackman Beck as Paul * Linda Walton as Linda * Grant Mathis as Monk

Production

''Obselidia'' was loosely inspired by several films, with Diane Bell saying:

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

took place in Death Valley Junction,

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

Reception

Critical response

Todd McCarthy Todd McCarthy (born February 16, 1950) is an American film critic and author. He wrote for '' Variety'' for 31 years as its chief film critic until 2010. In October of that year, he joined ''The Hollywood Reporter'', where he subsequently served ...

of '' Variety'' stated, "Gentle, intelligent, gorgeously made and utterly eccentric, ''Obselidia'' exists in its own little world entirely apart from any hitherto detected categories of American independent filmmaking." McCarthy also wrote, "Visually, the picture is a thing of great beauty." David D'Arcy of ''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'' remarked, "Bell's ambitious script seeks a new and charmingly humorous perspective on consumerism and environmental decline, but leans on didactic aphorisms in the dialogue between George and Sophie."

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Sundance Alfred P. Sloan Prize 2010 films 2010 directorial debut films 2010 drama films 2010 independent films 2010s American films 2010s English-language films 2010s drama road movies American drama road movies American independent films English-language drama films English-language independent films Climate change films Films about librarians Films set in deserts Films set in California Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in Santa Monica, California Films shot in the Mojave Desert Alfred P. Sloan Prize winners Sundance Film Festival award–winning films