dir. Patricia Gruben
1984
Canada
84 min
 
This is the first feature directed by Patricia Gruben, who created the much-admired “The Central Character” and the award-winning “Sifted Evidence.” Gruben is one of Canada's foremost filmmakers, part of a new generation which combines avant-garde techniques with narrative elements.
 
“Low Visibility” finds a man wandering alone on a snowy mountain roadside, waving his arms and shouting at the sky.  The enigmatic Mr. Bones, an apparent amnesiac, is unable or unwilling to explain what has happened to him.  He arouses, as a result, the curiosity not only of the doctors and nurses of the hospital he is taken to, but also the local news media searching for a story and the police who enlist the aid of a clairvoyant in their investigation.  In their efforts to find out the true story, these people build an elaborate network of speculation and suspense which ends in paradox.  The points of view multiply as Mr. Bones is seen through the eyes of the news camera, the hospital surveillance video recorder, the eyes of those around him and the visions of the psychic.  Mr. Bones, meanwhile, blankly watches snow on the ever-present TV screen.
 
"Few fringe filmmakers are as good at directing actors as Gruben, and Larry Lillo develops a convincing portrait of traumatized insanity."
—Kaja, Variety