A fascinating portrait of "thoughtographer" Ted Serios, a hard-drinking Chicago bellhop who caused a sensation in the sixties with his psychic ability to produce hundreds of Polaroid images from his mind.
Detour de Force is Rebecca Baron's fascinating portrait of "thoughtographer" Ted Serios, a hard-drinking Chicago bellhop who caused a sensation in the sixties with his psychic ability to produce hundreds of Polaroid images from his mind. Constructed from 16mm archival footage gloriously restored by the Austrian Film Museum, the film is less interested in the authenticity of Serios's claims than in the mediatization surrounding the man and his manipulation of various forms of technology, clearly playing to the camera as he seemingly defies the limits of analogue film. Detours or not, Serios proves he's a force to be reckoned with.
ANDRÉA PICARD