''Terminal Bar'' is an American documentary short film directed by

Stefan Nadelman Stefan Nadelman is an American film director and animator. A collection of photos from Stefan Nadelman's film '' Terminal Bar'' was released in book form in 2014, authored by Nadelman and his father Sheldon Nadelman who also was the book's photo ...

and starring Sheldon Nadelman. A collection of Sheldon Nadelman's Terminal Bar photos used in the film was released in book form in 2014 entitled, '' Terminal Bar: A Photographic Record of New York's Most Notorious Watering Hole.''

Premise

The film is a fast-paced, photo-driven documentary of one of the seediest bars in

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), ...

, the Terminal Bar, as seen through haunting

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

photographs taken by bartender Sheldon Nadelman from 1972 to 1982.

Critical reception

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

wrote "The genius of Stefan's film, however, is that he doesn't merely present these fascinating images. The piece itself is a multimedia

kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a symmetrical pattern when viewed fro ...

which combines the photos, Sheldon's stories, text from articles about the bar, an excellent soundtrack and Stefan's virtuoso editing and animation. Each image enters the frame in its own unique way. Sometimes photos break apart into their different components, other times multiple photos join together to create a new image. Stefan's camera pans and zooms around Sheldon's frames, searching for truth and detail. Every element (music, image, voice, background bar sounds) joins together to create a heartbreakingly sad, but still energetic and funny, total."

Terminal Bar film series

*''Terminal Bar'' *''Terminal Bar: Pimps and Prostitutes'' *''Terminal Bar: Porters, Bouncers, and Bartenders'' *''Terminal Bar: The Garbage Can'' *''Terminal Bar: Last Call'' *''Terminal Bar: The End Is Here''

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Terminal Bar (Film) 2003 short documentary films 2003 films American short documentary films Films about bartenders Documentary films about New York City American LGBTQ-related short films Documentary films about food and drink Times Square 2000s English-language films 2000s American films American LGBTQ-related documentary films 2003 LGBTQ-related films English-language short documentary films