No Traveler – It’s A Wonderful Not-Quite-AfterLife (Frigid Festival 2010)
by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 6, 2010
No Traveler - Contemplating What Lies Beyond (Penny Pollak / photo by Rebecca Chiappone)
The opening scene of Penny Pollak’s No Traveler (directed and co-created by Samantha Jones) immediately reminded me of The Triplets of Belleville (not the movie, but the weirdly enjoyable music video by M). Ms. Pollak, or rather her character Abigail, is having a great time dancing around her room to an equally bouncy French tune; she spends much of the song drinking wine, primping, getting frisky with a door, and setting the stage for some grand finale. Of course, when she pulls out the straight edged razor and steps into the bucket it becomes obvious that this was all nothing but a frivolous preamble to the real task at hand … ending her life.
