Spicebush

A quiet, fragmentary collage of everyday labor and Mississippi landscapes that drifts between observation and symbol, asking patience and rewarding reflection.

Directed by

Kevin Jerome Everson

Genres

Documentary

Overview

SPICEBUSH interweaves various fragmentary narratives concerning education, luck. landscapes, gaining and losing a job, and the passage of time. The technique and style employed alternates between the documentary, the symbolic, and more conventionally scripted scenes. Filming individuals engaged in their careers conveys the documentary aspect. At a symbolic level, the fossil is a leitmotif suggesting past and present. The title of the film refers to the state butterfly of Mississippi, Spicebush Swallowtail. In the film, Mississippi is a place of origin. The Spicebush Swallowtail represents renewal or starting over. Throughout the film, a little girl appears in different guises and settings, functioning indirectly in the role of the chorus. The scripted scenes, shot in a documentary style, collaged with the other scenes begin to create the traces of a narrative structure.

How it feels

Slow-burning and demanding.

About

Work, education, memory, identity

Content

No violence, gore, sexual content or swearing.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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