In 1971 Hollis Frampton made a film called (nostalgia). It's of leave-taking of photography. Frampton burns his photographs on a hot plate, and always out of synch with the disintegrating image on the screen is a voice-over describing the circumstances of the making of each picture. The narrator recounts the motivations, and usually the shortcomings and regrets associated with each image. The tone is melancholic and self-deprecating.
One one level (nostalgia) is premeated by a sense of regret over things never said, amends not made, a sense of failure and real loss for the moments and people no longer in Frampton's life. But towards the end of the film there's a twist, and one of the chief moments of regrets turns out to be a bit of a charade. Frampton's nostalgia is real, but it is also wrapped in distancing irony and wit.
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