A Primer For Dental Extraction

Dental Extraction is a short, black and white, 16mm film completed in 2000. The film presents valuable information on dental maintenance for the obsessive.

Synopsis:

The protagonist aggressively cleans her teeth and chain-smokes. Pursued by the camera, she assaults it repeatedly. The soundtrack includes abrasive noise, melodic harp and a laugh-track.

performer Dominique Gallo photos by Carl Wiedemann

Critiques

• " If F.W. Murnau could have lived long enough to direct a Tool video, it might have looked something like this wildly neurotic short from director Carl Wiedemann. The camera, utilizing multiple angles, lenses and frame-rates, pursues the protagonist through a series of gritty, industrial landscapes, intercut with other nightmarish images. The sound design is as dynamic as the visuals." - The Flagpole Magazine Online, October, 18 2000.
• "Weird.. experiment shot in Chicago.. among the industrial ruins. Solo actress Dominique Gallo is oddly charismatic in that Sandra Bernhard-meets-Tetsuo sort of way." - The Champaign-Urbana Octopus, October 27, 2000.
• "A Primer for Dental Extraction, recently awarded top honors at the Seattle Underground Film Fest, is the standout of the program--a meaningless, post-industrial meander replete with a mad woman with big teeth." - from The Stranger.com's preview of Independent Exposure's Halloweird show, October 26, 2000.
• "a visually striking (reminiscent of Fritz Lang) rumination on dentistry as a metaphor for psychological pain." - L.A. Weekly, December 1999.
• "Filmmaker Carl Wiedemann's stark imagery, deft camera work and haunting cinematography recall David Lynch's groundbreaking Eraserhead." - Film Threat On-line, February 5, 2001.