"Benning's films draw us into new forms of storytelling via his unique cinematic language of sound, image, and printed information. Always lurking around in the dark recesses of the American Dream, they are personal and painterly journeys through the American landscape."-Richard LinklaterJames Benning's beautiful films are rigorously composed. His most recent, Los, a portrait of urban Los Angeles, continues a trilogy on California that began with his highly acclaimed depiction of rural California, El Valley Centro (PFA, February 2000). The third part, Sogobi, will center on California's wilderness. Benning is a master of the landscape: Deseret, Utopia, and Four Corners focused on the Southwest. Earlier works, including Landscape Suicide and One Way Boogie Woogie, plumbed the depths of suburban and city living. Since his first films, he has returned again and again to explore the potential of the long take and stationary camera, developing an intense, meditative gaze. Benning's concern with duration is also an interest in our ability to perceive meaning-whether formal, social, or cultural-in his images. The focused attention asked of us, in contrast with modern distraction, exquisitely immerses us in a sense of place.