Michael Dekramindjian (mdek2112)

It is one of the silent era's longstanding legends. German-born director Erich von Stroheim, notorious for his highly realistic, at-all-costs approach to filmmaking and audacity towards the studios, was inspired to undertake an adaptation of the Frank Norris naturalist epic McTeague. Of course, Stroheim was not going to simply make a bare-bones summary of Norris' novel. Instead, he went to the trouble of filming every aspect of the story. The end result was a highly realistic Nine and a Half Hour magnum opus. However, this cut would not be seen by the viewing public due to the meddlesome efforts of Mayer and Thalberg, who cut the film down to just over Two Hours.
Despite the destruction and intial panning of the film, Greed went on to gain recognition as one of the great realist dramas of the silent era. And because of this legacy, efforts have been made to reconstruct the film as it could have been shown in its complete form.

Wavelength may be one of the greatest endurance tests cinema has to offer. There's no way to enhance the narrative. It's basically a composite of shots filmed inside a dilapitated apartment. Through Michael Snow's editing, the shots appear to be a single take. In this take, a camera placed on the far side of the apratment (maybe just above the door) zooms in on the wall at the other end. This goes on for almost 45 minutes. In that time, people occasionally show up and something happens, but mostly you are watching the camera try to close in on the other side of the apartment and reveal why it is so damn important that it accomplishes this.
Sombody could ask why it is so damn important that we stay to figure out why we are spending 45 minutes staring at an apartment. That is something Snow understands all too well. Because of this, he tries to make the event as complex as possible for the viewer. Snow uses different kinds of colour tints and exposures, and cuts at will to make us observe the apartment in conflicting ways. The soundtrack also hypnotizes as it deconstructs itself from the sounds of outside traffic to a single, blaring tone. The tedious exercise draws one in with its simplicity.
The moments where characters do appear could be Snow's idea of instilling false hopes in the viewer. One would expect the apperance of human activity to liven up the film, but when it does occur, the moments are mired in boredom and confusion. They are just as oblivious as to what is so special about the room.
On what the film's message could be, the final image in the film could be a clue as to the pont Snow makes. I see it as an encouragement to return to nature and leave the drab urban trappings that the aprtment stands for.
My opinion. If you must watch this film, watch it without stopping for anything. It's an utterly unique film-viewing experience, the kind that takes a while to grasp, one that challenges what a film can be about.
Wavelength is one of Canada`s greatest contributions to art film.