Castro Street is a 1966 short film (12 minutes) by Bruce Baillie.
It has nothing to do with the famous San Francisco Gayborhood. In fact, this movie was shot across the bay in Richmond, specifically at the Standard Oil Refinery on one side of Richmond's Castro Street, and the railroad switchyard on the other side. The film has no story and no dialogue. Instead, it is an impressionistic visual collage of an industrial area.
Tropes:
- Documentary: Although, given that there's no story and no dialogue, the film is closer in spirit to the "actualities" filmed by the Lumiere brothers and other latter 19th-century filmmakers.
- No Plot? No Problem!: Not a story, but rather a visual portrait of an area.
- Scenery Gorn: There are many many places in San Francisco Bay where one could point one's camera and record beauty and striking scenery. An oil refinery is not one of those places—the point seems to be to document the unsightliness of industry. The film is made even uglier by constant superimposition and shooting almost everything distorted or out of focus. One brief shot of flowers growing by the railroad tracks is startling for being almost the only non-ugly thing in the film.
- Silence Is Golden: The only sounds are the sounds of industry, mostly trains and switchyard bells.
- Title Drop: Right before the film ends a "Castro St." sign floats through the frame.
