JRFB
Now if you're not quite buying the idea of narrative authority in a film like Eggshells, here is some modest evidence to the contrary straight from Hooper's mouth:
"To me, that [shot] said the time and the age. That's a funky shot,
someone popping their pimple. (With some inspiration, animatedly authoritative:)
Now we see her later, you know. I mean, she's introduced later, but since she isn't a movie star,
it may take you some time to notice that this is the girl we take our trip with into Austin."
[Austin film-scene public figure] Louis Black: "And what people who weren't (laughing) alive then don't get... is how serious the conversations often were. You know, about meaning and religion and spirituality."
Hooper: (In agreement) "Oh. Oh. Oh. (laughs) People were serious."
Black: "And pretentious."
Hooper: "And pretentious."
And allow me to bring this back:
"Eggshells is this remarkably kinetic scene of a communal house at daybreak that beats Scorsese by a few decades." (Myself on Eggshells in a previous post.)
[Quotations taken from the Eggshells commentary track recorded between Tobe Hooper and Louis Black (who rediscovered and helped produce the restoration of Eggshells).]
[Eggshells
Digital Download/VOD and VOD Commentary track are available on Watchmaker Films (the restoration & distribution company)'s Vimeo page.]
[I mentioned Eggshells and its visual prowess, but the film may very well be most notable for its editorial prowess. Eggshells may well be a masterpiece of the jump cut.]
(
"Actually... this is a tale... about my good friend, Ben Skabarsak.")