“The idea of failure, of continually trying to keep up with a constantly shifting, internalized sense of ‘normalcy,’ unites the seemingly disparate projects of Beckman and Michael Smith. Whereas Beckman’s Super-8 films are nearly manic in their pacing and exuberant in their coltish enthusiasm, Smith’s performances offer presentations of a persona that combine the “somnambulist” gait and hieratic gestures of actors in contemporary plays…”
