ROUTINE PLEASURES

<![CDATA[<i>]]>Routine Pleasures<![CDATA[</i>]]> is an autobiographical essay that takes on scale and memory, work and anonymity inside a remake of Howard Hawks <![CDATA[<i>]]>Only Angels Have Wings<![CDATA[</i>]]> starring a group of retired train engineers and a discussion of the filmmakers relationship with friend and mentor Manny Farber. Shot in long takes in wide angle, this black and white film intermingles scenes of the men obsessing about the details of their miniature town and railroad so that its geography and architecture replicate their ideologically loaded vision of the “real”, with shots of Manny Farber’s paintings and Gorin’s personal voice-over describing his awe and analysis of these men and of Farber’s relationship to constructing objects, whether toy trains or art. It is a film entirely composed of male voices and technological obsessions, sneaking into the world of trains and art and cinema to dislodge notions of male control, pleasure, and art making.