Rick Mereki's Three Films About The World

From filmmaker Rick Mereki comes three short films about international travel and the things that are different…and not so different between here and there. At only a minute apiece, Mereki has managed a minor miracle. The short films are neither campy travelogues (à la the Discovery Channel) nor are they heady, philosophical inquiries into globalization or cultural studies. They are charming, original forays that cut straight to the heart of travel, but do not bother to be conventional or obscure.

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.


LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.


EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

The best and most interesting of the three films is Move. With (far) more than a hundred cuts in the space of a minute, Move largely consists of Andrew Lees (one of Mereki’s collaborators) walking towards the camera in the center of the shot. The cuts are magical; catching Lees at mid-step, he flashes from one country to another with an unreal ease. He becomes the only solid ground in a film that shuffles through locations like a fanned pack of postcards.

But thanks to this unreal ease, the editing somewhat inadvertently suggests that location is inconsequential, that Lees might be plucked out of one country and dropped into another in the space of a half a second and endure no significant change. That analysis, of course, comes up short in light of the other films. For one, Learn, even in its title, points to change—any new knowledge immediately endows a person with the capacity to change. As long as you new knowledge is equal, if not resulting from, new experience, then even the rigmarole of different locations sans people (or food) becomes the catalyst for change in Lees.

The deeper question is what kind of catalyst it serves for the viewer. Do I find myself changed in watching these three films? Am I merely fascinated by the neat machine of a triptych that Mereki has constructed? I am a little worried that the primary reaction watching these films is one of technical perfection; the film looks good even before it is good in my eyes. It’s almost like a painting that you appreciate for the exquisite detail, before you much care for the subject matter.

I can only hope that viewers of Mereki’s masterful little film series manage to extrapolate the real joy that there is in new experience, especially the new experience of travel.

CREDITS:

Rick Mereki : Director, producer, additional camera and editing

Tim White : DOP, producer, primary editing, sound

Andrew Lees : Actor, mover, groover

Films commissioned by STA Travel Australia

All music composed and performed by Kelsey James