Halcion

Halcion is named after a sleeping pill which Brehm explained in a letter "induces pastel colored dreams and watery images". All the material Brehm brought to bear was culled from his 6-part cycle Black Garden. We look into the pitch darkness of a night where a lambent brightness is throbbing, shaping mysterious gestures and erotic premonitions, only to disappear again into the night. Sound stands in crystal clear contrast to image: the dialing and ringing of a telephone that nobody answers; the futile knocking on a door; the moaning of the wind; thunder, crackling flames, the crying of a seagull, the barking of dogs. Notwithstanding, we are never entirely left alone: time and again, faces can be made out among the film’s recognizable elements – faces with eyes that are watching. Halcion is a dream that watches us in our dreaming. (Peter Tscherkassky)