The Arc

1991 · 1h 36m · ★ 9.5

Tregenza’s second feature takes the form of a highly metaphorical road movie, as the isolated protagonist (Jason Adams) drifts from gainful employment in the East (as an arc welder in Baltimore) to a spiritual apotheosis in the West. “The formal treatment of the material ranges from rapid montage (in the opening sequence) to more conventional editing to lengthy takes without any apparent consistent pattern. Tregenza remains a master cinematographer throughout, and the various ellipses between sequences are often as provocative as the sequences themselves” (Jonathan Rosenbaum).