Cas, an academic assistant and amateur musician, moves into her aunt’s old home. In the bedroom closet, she finds a cache of mysteriously labeled microcassette tapes, containing cryptic recordings of sounds ranging from everyday objects to abstract soundscapes. Cas’s curiosity to discover the origin of these tapes leads her on a meditative journey through unknown verdant Californian landscapes, encountering experimental music performances, eccentric shop owners, and early music treasures along the way. As her adventure progresses, the mystery unravels in equally enigmatic and enlightening ways, reflecting Cas’s own evolving relation with time and sound.
Featuring an eclectic cast comprising figures from Los Angeles' burgeoning film, art, and music scenes—including Courtney Stephens, Sarah Davachi, Samatha Robinson, Mark Toscano, and Langley Fox Hemingway—Topology of Sirens is a slippery work of existential fiction, as well as an illuminating document of an underseen side of the city. Co-presented by MUBI.
In person: Jonathan Davies (director), Courtney Stephens (actress), Sarah Davachi (actress/musician), Mark Toscano (actor), Tyler Taormina (producer), Carson Lund (cinematographer), Dustin Guy Defa (moderator)
An exquisite little puzzle-box of a picture.
- Neil Young, Screen Daily
Davies trusts in the sensorial import of his images, in the implications and pleasures of shifting lights and dissolves, and the effect is nothing short of transporting.
- Ryan Swen, InReviewOnline
Topology of Sirens forges [...] a distinct voice of contemplation, a quiet romanticism for beauty and parsimony amid the chaos of uncertainty"
- Morris Yang, International Cinephile Society
A tantalizing mystery film in the vein of early Jacques Rivette that imagines contemporary Los Angeles as a kind of giant game-board.
- Michael Glover Smith, Cinefile
The enveloping qualities of an almost wall-to-wall soundscape, the glow of [the] cinematography, and the inviting sense of mystery hidden in every location and conversation generate an enigmatic kind of nostalgia, befitting a film that’s gentle without slipping into tweeness.
- Bennett Glace, Split Tooth Media
(Available to download after screening date)