by Mark Deming
synopsis
Artist and filmmaker Fiona Tan directed this experimental short subject. An eccentric, elderly man named Henry lives in a beautiful but strangely empty mansion -- Brighton's Royal Pavilion, which was built at the request of King George IV in 1815. Henry appears to live alone, and the camera follows him through the solitary habits and curious, obsessive behaviors that make up a typical day. Henry's actions contrast with the narration on the soundtrack, as truth and fiction begin to blur in both sound and image. A Lapse Of Memory was screened in competition at the 2007 Rotterdam International Film Festival.
