Liquid Crystal (2009)

The film presents a nighttime Tokyo through the eyes of a fly, where countless independent perspectives combine at brain wave frequencies to form novel patterns and spaces. As Robert Kohn of Afterimage notes, "It can be argued that McElwee’s Liquid Crystal simulates a new reality conducive to human survivability in the hypermodern age." Rudy Zapf of Playback writes, "McElwee’s videos are not viewed so much as experienced. The repeated images, constantly changing, become embedded in the memory like a visual mantra."