"Mr. Hiler's misleadingly titled "Bagatelle II" draws on ravishing moments in time (dancing lights, scudding clouds, a bathing woman) that build into what seems like a self-portrait of the artist" Manohla Dargis, N Y Times Oct. 6, 2016

In 2016, The New York Times referred to my film BAGATELLE II as "misleadingly titled". The film does, indeed, seem to exceed the expectations of the title, which promises a small, even trivial film. I can, at least, address the issue of its 16-minute length. Originally, I had planned to have a series of brief moments delineated by numbered pauses with the title BAGATELLES. As I worked, a flow developed that eventually eliminated all the pauses, yet I kept the name out of affection and its association, for me, of its use in classical music as a category of small piano pieces. As a filmmaker who identifies as a visual composer, this suite of scenes is aptly named. The scenes run from the earliest surviving footage I shot in New York City and my home district of Jamaica, NY (a railroad hub) in the 1960's, through a life with close friends and assorted sights up to the present. That, along with its comparative brevity, makes for a "life flashing before your eyes" moment for the filmmaker. For the viewer, my hope is for a less dire experience: a set of appearances imbued with the flavor of memory.

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