STA­TIONS OF THE EL­E­VAT­ED (1979) is an as­ton­ish­ing­ly beau­ti­ful film about graf­fi­ti-​cov­ered trains hurtling through a strange ur­ban land­scape of a de­cay­ing civ­i­liza­tion. The mu­sic of Charles Min­gus coun­ter­points the re­cur­ring vi­su­al riffs of the ten­sion-​filled im­agery. "A beau­ti­ful­ly pho­tographed study... (Min­gus') mu­sic is com­posed like a se­ries of city still-​lifes. Cer­tain im­ages linger: the bat­tered train read­ing 'Heav­en is Life, Earth is Hell,' rum­bling through the South Bronx, or a smil­ing bill­board face frag­ment­ed by the shad­owy struc­ture of the Brook­lyn Bridge."

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Documentary