Hutton depicts the most photographed city of the world. In this second part of his trilogy, he continues his daily observations in many different areas of New York City, capturing Coney Island and Ellis Island as well as Manhattan’s iconic skyscrapers. In one long sequence he loses himself in the skies above the city before returning back to the ground by showing images of poverty on the streets. Here, in some shots, Hutton acts as a social documentary filmmaker, following the tradition of photographers such as Jacob Riis. Images of flooded streets and people fighting the water give New York Portrait – Chapter 2 an apocalyptic touch, especially when the sequence culminates in a shot of a ‘black hole’ into which the floodwater is draining. But this is a Peter Hutton film, so the last shots of the city portrait are definitely optimistic ones. It definitely doesn’t matter what topic Hutton deals with, one can always find solace watching one of his movies.

Karl Wratschko