Dissolve to: L.A.
With Dissolve to: L.A., James Trevelyan masters how to make poems about action movies come to life on the page. There’s action to be found here, but more importantly, there are narratives. Trevelyan allows us to hear from the voices that were never more than their part, and so this pamphlet explodes with robust and self-aware ‘minor’ movie characters finding their voice, and questioning: “They gave me a name and does that not give me life?” (‘Lloyd’).
His collection is witty, playful and is not afraid to be dark – it is continually aware of the tragic stories that haunt the first one to die (‘Hawkins’) or the “pretty girl in a silk slip” who inevitably becomes a “good girl fallen” (‘Girl’).There are moments of genius in this modest book, where a girl falling onto a car bonnet, “the shirt always open, not a hair out of place”, is like “Ophelia or a centrefold”(‘Girl’), or where sunshades “protect your eyes from the white light of Judgment Day” (‘Lloyd’). The pamphlet itself is skilfully illustrated and charmingly put together by The Emma Press.
If you are not au fait with action films of the 80s and 90s, I’d recommend first reading the useful ‘Notes’ at the end of the pamphlet, to substantiate the characters even more. But it is not a necessity, as these twelve characters stand alone, and seem to speak far beyond the restriction of their scenes and movie settings. Here, they have their own hopes, fears, insights and questions, and this makes Dissolve to: L.A. a familiar yet totally fresh and original read. This is to be enjoyed not only by action movie fans, but by all readers who might admire a self-aware character breaking through the screen and its clichés, in order to question morality, expectation and action movie formulae.
Dissolve to : L.A. is published by www.theemmapress.com