Calvin Black was a folk artist who lived in California's Mojave Desert and created more than 80 life-size female dolls, each with its own personality, function, and costume. He also built the "Bird Cage Theater," where the dolls perform and sing in voices recorded by the artist. The film works on two levels. One is the documentation of the artist's legacy and commentary on women: grotesque female figures moving in the desert wind and the theater with its frozen "actresses," protected by his widow from a world she views as hostile. The other is the re-creation of the artist's vision through the magic of film, as the camera enables the dolls to move and sing and brings theater to life as the artist imagined it.
Directed by Allie Light, Irving Saraf
Your score–
Not scoredRelated
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)
Anna Nicole Smith: You Don't Know Me
The U.S. vs. John Lennon
Justin Bieber's Believe
The Class of ‘92
Seduced and Abandoned
Maternal Instinct
The Curious Birth of Benjamin Button
McQueen
Naqoyqatsi
The Beach Boys
Katy Perry: Part of Me
28 Up
Casting By
Drew: The Man Behind the Poster