On a Spring night in 1993 during his alcohol-fueled leather jacket days in The Mission, Umlaut stumbled the 6 blocks from his flat to the Film Noir Festival at the Roxie Theater. The film I saw on that particular night was called Blast Of Silence and it haunted me for weeks afterwards... and in the 15 years since that screening the film has stayed in the back of my mind.The film was never released on VHS as far as I know... and as the years progressed it never came out on DVD either; Blast Of Silence became an enigma to me. Time marched on.. and eventually I forgot about it as the 20th Century ended and the 21st Century dawned.
Fast forward to this past Sunday and to my amazement there was a review in the Entertainment section of the San Francisco Chronicle that announced Blast Of Silence is finally being issued on DVD by Criterion. Woah... It's always weird when a dead memory suddenly grabs you by the ankle!
To be honest, I don't remember alot of about the film except for the final scene... and I'm sure the reason why Blast Of Silence has stayed in my psyche is because I haven't been able to watch it again since that night 15 years ago. It will be interesting to see if the film holds up for me here in the 21st Century, dyaknowwhatimean?
The lesson: If you live long enough shit eventually comes back around... or something like that. Discuss amongst yourselves.
Mondo Noir Festival 1993 Poster(From the Umlaut Archives)
