The only organizing principle: asking questions...

This is an exerpt from a critical essay by Patricia Hampl (titled "Memory's Movies") about "Sherman's March," a piece by Ross McElwee done in the late 80's. He is interviewing one of his main characters (and also his artistic muse) Charlene...

"She [Charlene] warns him about trying to connect things too neatly. In a sense she is warning McElwee about breaking faith with the essential fragmentation of memory, its natural state of decay. Charlene is encouraging severe allegiance to the inevitable isolation of separate moments in a life and in history. In film terms, she is telling him to frame (and thereby honor) all the separate takes.

'You never solve everything Ross,' [Charlene] tells him, warning against his desires to discover (or fabricate) more clarity or more sense than life can offer... Remembering is not the point. Memory seeks coherence... the only possible organizing principle: asking questions, noting confusions and absences, counting the emotional silver."

To learn more about Ross McElwee and his films/documentaries/video essays, you can find excerpts on YouTube. There are also films available at the library for check-out.