!!better!! | Retrospecto Americana

First came the highways. Shot on 16mm Kodachrome in the late fifties. A candy-apple red Chevrolet Impala convertible tearing down Route 66. The chrome glittered like shattered diamonds. The driver—hair slicked back, a cigarette dangling—looked like he owned the horizon. Elias remembered that feeling. It was the feeling that the road was infinite and the gasoline was cheap. Manifest Destiny on four wheels.

The montage moved faster. A kid with a skateboard in a drained swimming pool. A satellite dish pointing at the stars. A shopping mall, vast and empty, the skylights dirty, the plants dead in their pots. retrospecto americana

The title evokes a feeling of nostalgic reflection, specifically looking back at the American experience—perhaps through the lens of cinema, the open road, or the shifting tides of history. First came the highways