# Kirlian Witness, The (1978)

### reviewed by
Shane Burridge

    The Kirlian Witness (1978) 88m.

A woman is found dead - apparently murdered - on a rooftop. Her sister (Nancy Snyder), unsatisfied with the official police findings, pursues inquiries of her own. Here's what makes the rest of this genre piece different: her key witness is a potted plant. It sounds like a joke, but the story handles its premise seriously. Aware of the importance of suspending the audience's disbelief, first-time writer/director Jonathon Sarno provides a skeptical husband (Joel Kolodner) to voice our own doubts about Snyder's investigation as it progresses. Does it make the story more believable if the central character is a woman? I'd say that it was definitely a conscious choice of the film-makers, although it suggests the underlying message that women are more receptive to a broader view of science and nature than men. Personally I don't see THE KIRLIAN WITNESS reaching any conclusions about polygraphs, telepathy, or Kirlian photography as a forensic methodology: ultimately, the circumstances of Snyder's investigation can be boiled down to hypothesis and autosuggestion. It's an underplayed distraction to what really matters - that Kolodner and fellow murder suspect Ted Laplat become drawn into a paranoia that finds themselves believing in the occult and contributing to their downfall (the film's alternate title was THE PLANTS ARE WATCHING). THE KIRLIAN WITNESS may be more a new-agey Poe update than a film about Gaia or cosmic communion.

Sarno is smart enough to keep the tone of his film quiet; the unspoken joke is that characters communicate better with plants than between themselves. It's hard trying to pin down how they relate to each other - their roles as sister, husband, friend, or employee are non-specific. They don't even seem overly upset at the deaths that occur in the story (note that the violence towards plants is handled with just as much attention as that of the human characters). With the exception of Laplat, who has some good exchanges with Kolodner, the novice cast doesn't give a performance that promises film careers - at least Sarno got Hollywood veteran Lawrence Tierney on board in a supporting role. Film was marketed as a horror picture, although it is really an alternative take on crime thrillers. The economical storyline provides only two suspects, but delivers a satisfying conclusion. Coincidentally 1978 also saw the release of the documentary THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS, better known by its Stevie Wonder soundtrack, which made the top ten. The book of the same name can be glimpsed in Sarno's film.

sburridge@hotmail.com

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