Adynata1983

ADYNATA offers a vulgar tour of the Other, in this case Imperial China?; Woman?; Madness?; Japan?; Murder?; Eroticism? – L.T.

"The colors are extremely vivid and work to amplify what at first glance appears to be an unruly fetishism of the exotic object. There is too much for the eye - the film seemingly capitulates to the seductive force of visual pleasure. But this richness of the image is somewhat deceptive. It is itself a second-order signifier of an exoticism associated with the discourse of Orientalism which is both quoted and criticized by the film. And, for Thornton, the discourse of Orientalism is precisely a discourse of excess, of hyperbole, of the absurd. In ADYNATA she investigates the mise-en-scene of Orientalism - the conglomeration of sounds and images which connote the Orient for a Western viewer/auditor." – Mary Ann Doane, Millenium Film Journal, 1987.