in complete world by Shelley Silver

Shelley Silver’s in complete world, a mash-up of street interviews spanning the demographic landscape of New York City with blunt enquiries into American political subjectivity, feels staged almost as an exercise in futility. "I’m just one voice among millions", one pedestrian says – and indeed, among the 96 faces and voices we encounter during this 53-minute film, not many (or any) responses make a lasting impression. They flicker rapidly by, not really resolving anything.

But the common thread running through the piece is the expressiveness of the respondents who are given a platform to communicate their ideas. In this sense, in complete world candidly turns its gaze inwards: is documentary film shouldering responsibility for raising its voice above other, more mainstream media?

The snapshot presented of New Yorkers here was taken before the presidential elections. In retrospect, Ms. Silver’s self-professed "love letter" to her city, for all its oscillation between cynicism and optimism over the citizen’s role in national discourse, turns out to have struck the right chord. In our age of increasingly viral interconnectivity, solo voices belonging to ordinary people - including independent filmmakers - hold a broader sphere of potential influence, and therefore, greater responsibility to put it to use.

The film’s visual style is notable for the brevity and brisk pace with which it executes sequences that would otherwise feel monotonously repetitive. With attention spans shrinking against the onslaught of data out there, Ms. Silver’s stylistic message seems to be: keep it watchable if you want it to be watched.

Tara Mahtafar