Variations (film)

Stephen Holden called the film "visually compelling", asking, "Is there a more beautiful cinematic image than a plastic shopping bag gently blown by the wind across a stretch of pavement?"^[4] Amy Taubin described it as looking "as if it were lit up from within".^[6] Paul Arthur wrote for Film Comment that it "might be the pinnacle of a long and distinguished career", praising the way Dorsky's "observation of shapes, textures, movements, and colors of mostly commonplace realities organized into densely unhurried skeins of interconnected motifs".^[7] Kent Jones likened Dorsky's approach in collecting images to a "a nineteenth-century naturalist combing the woods for new species of fauna" and called Variations "a film that pulses with serenity."^[5] J. Hoberman described its tone as "subdued ecstasy" and commented that it "suggests a universal photosynthesis in which humans are surrounded by and permeated with radiance."^[8] Arthur named it one of the best films of 1998, and Jones placed it fourth on his year-end list.^[9]

Dorsky was contacted by the production staff for the feature film American Beauty, asking how director Sam Mendes could view Variations.^[2] The completed film features a scene of a plastic bag blowing in the wind, and upon its release, film critic Stephen Holden wrote that it "borrows an image (and an entire esthetic of beauty)" from Variations.^[10] Dorsky stated that, because of the existence of many similar images in earlier films, he was unsure that his shot was appropriated.^[2]

• Variations at Nathaniel Dorsky's official site
• Variations at Canyon Cinema
• Variations at IMDb