Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.
THE CITY DARK is a
science-minded documentary especially for you Clevelanders who
earlier this week planned to watch the Transit of Venus. No, that
isn't the name of a louche burlesque-revival troupe at the Beachland
- or a new porn title just out; it was an astronomy viewing-party
deal at Edgewater Park. And it had the virtue of happening in
daylight. As this documentary shows, the alternative is getting
somewhat problematical.
Visually arresting and even hypnotic,
the film hails from director Ian Cheney, who is a New York-based
photographer and amateur stargazer. In fact, one of his passions is
astronomical images of incredible starfields and distant celestial
vistas. He grew up under the amazing night skies in Maine, but now
due to the tremendous amount of artificial light ever-beaming upwards
out of Manhattan - or any urban metropolis, for that matter - Cheney
can rarely see stars after sunset, let alone take their pictures.
