Jo-Jo at the Gate of Lions

The first of Britta Sjogren's feature films is an inventive, intriguing allegory, filmed in black and white on the streets of Los Angeles, of a young woman, Jo-Jo, and two men, John and Luke, one an astronomer and the other a phone-sex entrepreneur. Jo-Jo fluctuates between the two, between “her destiny and her desire.” She has an interest in women martyrs-she collects them on postcards-which is linked to the film's larger interest in the socialization of women; she vaguely believes that giving up what she wants will somehow avert nuclear war. She hears voices-they call her on the phone, tell her what to do. But is this her inner voice, struggling to speak out, or the social, institutional voice, claiming her? A disembodied, omniscient voice typically is associated with authority (and author), but Sjogren's use of it is mysterious, raising questions as to who speaks and when, who listens and why.

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