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This month, Cinemax Reel Life showcases an unforgettable short film from Jay
Rosenblatt, whose unique style probes our deepest human
emotions through a combination of unusual and often-
allegorical images, a haunting music score, and a sparse
narration. Phantom Limb (the title refers to the term
used for the sense that a limb still exists after it has been
amputated) begins with a traumatic event in the
filmmaker's life - the death of his younger brother when
both were children - and morphs into an examination of
the progressive stages of grief through which anyone who
endures such a loss invariably pass through.
Eliot Rosenblatt was barely 7 when he died from an
infection after surgery; he'd been ill from an undisclosed
illness for two years. Jay, two years older, was
embarrassed by Eliot's illness, then felt guilty after he
died, but never was able to express his feelings. His
parents avoided articulating their loss for years.
In Phantom Limb, Rosenblatt introduces a collection of
reflections and images centering not only on his personal
story, but on universal themes of grief and loss. The film
evokes 12 emotional stages that follow the loss of a loved
one - "Separation," "Collapse," "Sorrow," "Denial,"
"Confusion," "Shock," "Rage," "Advice," "Longing,"
"Depression," "Communication" and "Return" - in a dozen
film "chapters." As he explains on his film-company
website, "Whether it is a loss through death or divorce,
the stages of grieving are the same. Individuals often go
through denial, anger, bargaining, depression and,
ultimately, some kind of acceptance, in order to heal. The
film is loosely structured according to these stages.
Interspersed throughout this poetic documentary are
interviews with a cemetery owner, a phantom-limb
patient, and an author of a book about evidence for life
after death. Phantom Limb reminds viewers that while
grief is painful and isolating, it is a reminder to each of us
that life is impermanent."
About the filmmaker: A onetime therapist who has
taught film and video at Stanford and other universities,
Jay Rosenblatt has been making films since 1980. A
recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Rockefeller
Fellowship, Rosenblatt's films have won many awards and
have been screened throughout the world. A selection of
his films had theatrical runs at the Film Forum in New
York and at theaters in San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle
and Boston. Rosenblatt's films, some of which are as short
as one minute, are personal in content yet universal in
appeal. Among his films: Human Remains (premiered on
HBO Signature in 1999), I Used to Be a Filmmaker (a
Cinemax Reel Life presentation in 2004), The Smell of
Burning Ants and Period Piece.
Phantom Limb premiered at the International
Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam (IDFA) in the
Silver Wolf Competition and has screened at some of the
most prestigious film festivals in the world, including the
Tribeca Film Festival, the Chicago Documentary Film
Festival, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the
Newport International Film Festival, and the Clermont-
Ferrand International Short Film Festival. It has won
several awards, including Best Documentary at the
Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival, and Best
Short Documentary at the Florida Film Festival.
CREDITS: Producer, Director, Writer & Editor: Jay Rosenblatt. Directors of Photography: Ara Corbett, Todd Curtis and Jay Rosenblatt.
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