“Cherzoso The Silent Film” Short Film Review

Tracy Ann Chapel’s “Cherzoso, The Silent Film” is a bite-sized pronouncement of the performative nature of womanhood. There’s a clown, an object of affection, and a mother. There’s even a special guest appearance of the character’s sister - aka moral conscience - there to plague her decision-making process.

This monochromatic “silent” film is set at a backstage makeup table in a dressing room for the clown Cherzoso. A dialogue (or perhaps more aptly monologue) unfolds between the clown, the woman behind the clown Sherry and an imagined encounter with her sister Stella.

Chapel’s performance is one that attempts to emulate great silent performances. It features several chunky pieces of dialogue and a phone conversation - that for the duration - require a significant volume of inter-titles. Traditionally, silent films would understand the limitations of the form to capture interaction and lean more heavily into action and conveying emotions. The dialogue is only the essential inter-titles would be lean. Chapel’s experiment seems focussed on articulating that conflict and contrast with the silence of women.

This silence is exploratory in the characters she’s portraying. There’s the repression of career dissatisfaction, muting sexual desire, internal promises never to confess to the sacrifices she makes for motherhood, or to the lies she must tell to maintain to her place in the community of women. While the limits of budget, of scale and visual dynamism (aside from aesthetic choices) - the premise feels like a ripe one for exploration in Chapel’s hands.