You are here:

Carriage Trade

Name: Carriage Trade
Director: Warren Sonbert
Released: 1972
Duration: 61 min

Representation Score

3.8/10

Limited

1972

Director

Warren Sonbert

Runtime

61 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

Carriage Trade is an abstract experiment that uses visual fragments to create a jigsaw puzzle-like structure, avoiding the predictable reactions of traditional storytelling. Without characters, dialogue, or a plot, the film doesn't engage in overt identity politics. Instead, it offers a decentralized perspective that empowers the viewer’s personal interpretation.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does Carriage Trade have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film doesn't include explicit LGBTQ+ characters or romantic pairings. However, it avoids traditional storytelling structures that assume everyone is straight or cisgender.

How does Carriage Trade portray gender?

Fair

The film doesn't follow traditional gender roles or patriarchal structures. Its fragmented imagery avoids objectifying subjects in a way typical of the male gaze.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Carriage Trade?

Minimal

A definitive score cannot be assigned due to a lack of specific visual evidence regarding the subjects. The focus remains on texture and light.

How does Carriage Trade represent religion and culture?

Good

The film challenges Soviet filmmaking techniques by encouraging subjective interpretation rather than a single, didactic message.

Does Carriage Trade include disability representation?

Minimal

The film doesn't depict characters with physical or neurodivergent disabilities. It focuses on aesthetics and structure.

Present on Screen

The film's structure challenges traditional patriarchal hierarchies and the male gaze.
It encourages intellectual relativism by rejecting centralized storytelling methods.
Its fragmented approach creates space for non-traditional ways of seeing.

Limited or Absent

The film lacks explicit representation of LGBTQ+ identities or romantic pairings.
There is no visible evidence of racial or ethnic diversity in the visual fragments.
The film doesn't feature characters portraying physical or neurodivergent disabilities.

Official Synopsis

Carriage Trade was an evolving work-in-progress, and this 61-minute version is the definitive form in which Sonbert realized it, preserved intact from the camera original. With Carriage Trade, Sonbert began to challenge the theories espoused by the great Soviet filmmakers of the 1920’s; he particularly disliked the “knee-jerk’ reaction produced by Eisenstein’s montage. In both lectures and writings about his own style of editing, Sonbert described Carriage Trade as “a jig-saw puzzle of postcards to produce varied displaced effects.” This approach, according to Sonbert, ultimately affords the viewer multi-faceted readings of the connections between individual shots. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Estate Project for Artists with AIDS in 1998.

How are these scores produced? →