The Pettifogger

1963: a year in the life of a petty criminal. This abstract crime film reconnoitres the frontiers of the genre, with images from comics and advertising and old sounds. A special collage whose underlying concept is very topical: using images is the same as stealing. 　　In the words of Lewis Klahr himself, his first full-length film The Pettifogger is 'an abstract crime film, a sensorial exploration of the virulence of unfettered capitalism'. The life of the 'pettifogger', a petty criminal in the early 1960s, is collapsing thanks to his greed, his calculating nature and his weakness for playing cards for money. The further he descends, the more vague and enigmatic the story becomes. 　　The form is the same as Klahr developed in recent decades in his renowned short films: moving collages of found images, set against an equally eclectically compiled soundtrack. 　　The variation of materials used is enormous: not only comic strips in the style of Lichtenstein from which the protagonist comes, but also playing cards, poker markers and battered original photos. The many image repetitions, flashing lights and stunning shots complete the hypnotic effect.