Lucy Tsak Tsak

First off, I thought it was an interesting idea to make a film (albeit a short one) out of the little bits that aren't put in a finished film. I wouldn't say that this is the most provocative film in the world, but it is interesting nonetheless. What interests me most is the point they make - that this clacker board has appeared in reams and reams of celluloid strips, but has never actually been in a finished film.

It's hard to write a 10 line comment on a film that is barely a minute or so long, but my final view on this is that it has little to merit itself other than what I mentioned before, yet it remains a harmless little entity - like Lucy.

This is one of many short documentaries found on the DVD "Full Frame--Documentary Film Festival: 1"--a wonderful collection of recent independent documentaries. However, this film seemed a bit out of place. All the other films were about a half hour in length and were very entertaining. LUCY TSAK TSAK on the other hand, was only about two minutes long and never really captured my attention.

It's the story, albeit abbreviated, of a lady whose job it is to use the clapboard to introduce and conclude scenes. You know, the black and white gizmo they use to announce each scene that is later edited out before the film is shown to the public. Well, apparently Lucy's been doing this for some time and never (until this film) made it into a film. Not particularly exciting and no real insight is gained about this illusive lady--and that is why it bored me and seemed too long even at two minutes! There just wasn't a compelling story to be told--at least not in what I saw.

Lucy has worked in the film business for over 30 years. She's worked on 56 feature films, 3 documentaries and 2 series. She currently resides in Sofia, Bulgaria with a dog, a son and a new tattoo. "Tsak tsak" is her slang for the slate that she has clapped approximately 459100 times. By doing this, her image is on over 382 hours of film, although she had never appeared in a single motion picture.

This short film consists of a load of clapper board moments before stopping to deliver more or less the text that I have written above. This doesn't make for much of a film but it is more interesting than it actually sounds – mainly because it did make me think. The film is only two minutes long and most of that is taken up with the text, however it is interesting because it made me think about all the people involved in film that never even get seen, Lucy just being one of them. Of course another way to look at it is to wonder what sort of a job it is to clap a board hundreds of thousands of times over several decades, but whichever way you go at it, it still comes out being more interesting than it sounds.

Overall, a very short short film without a great dealing happening, but an interesting tribute to all those people who make films happen but have never actually made it onto the silver screen. With this in mind it is no surprise that this film was mostly seen at festivals rather than anywhere else.