The Franklin Abraham (2004)

The Franklin Abraham is a building 2 kilometers wide, 3 kilometers long and in places 175 stories tall. It reputedly once inhabited a population of over 2 million people. The edifice began as a residential tower designed in the once fashionable Rococo-Moderne style. In the 200 years since its inception it has expanded into an amalgamated superstructure that encompasses all aspects of civic life: residential, retail, manufacturing, education, government and entertainment. Jonah FreemanÕs film is a circuitous journey through this vast, labyrinthine structure. The camera assumes the position of a voyeuristic, roaming eye that passes through the lives and spaces of an interiorized society. Particles of stories or characters are explored briefly and then left behind: a despondent teenage girl and her older newspaper-stealing boyfriend; a timid office worker on a date with a sinister-looking romeo; bored, subterranean youth gangs; the tribulations of the family and mega-corporation that own the building; a moisturizer-huffing bartender and her angry patrons. The segments focus on details of everyday life while simultaneously implying the gargantuan scale of the building.