A Brilliant Conflict

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Shot on 42 St. in New York, mostly in slow motion and sometimes in negative slow motion, accompanied by original and haunting music, the film captures the depravity, loneliness, poverty, and insanity of New York. While Woody Allen's upbeat New York exists, Goldman's New York also exists. With beggars and drunks lying on the streets and bodies passing film Marquees in a rhythmic slow motion the film reminded me of Geroge Grosz's paintings of Berlin in the 1920's. All of Goldman's films are known for their powerful imagery and Pestilent City is no exception. This is one reason the film was shown twice at the New York Film Festival. Goldman was one of the innovators of the film art, but his films have all but been forgotten.L.M