Adrian Velicescu

A nine-year-old girl with a mother in the hospital decides to live alone and fend for herself.

Ricky is a young man who takes care of his sick mother. His father hovers at the edge of the picture, so Ricky provides for himself and his mom through prostitution, running errands, and acting as a caregiver for a blind man. Through the course of the film, Ricky befriends Janey, a young woman he finds beaten by her ex-boyfriend, and Trenn, a mysterious young man in trouble with the law. The three of them navigate a dark and confusing world. It uses many of the actors who have come to constitute the Dar A Luz company, including Tony Torn, Tom Fitzpatrick, Juliana Francis, and Tom Pearl. It will disappoint those who approach it looking for a film analogue of the “faster and louder” aesthetic that critics have used to characterize much of Abdoh’s stage work. The Blind Owl does use a variety of techniques reminiscent of his stage direction, giving it an unusual theatricality.

The autopsy of a deceased girl finds that the victim had died long before the accident. Taking over the case, "Grandpa" and his assistant, Panaitescu, discover that the perpetrator of the false accident is being blackmailed.

Reviewers found this art film extraordinarily grating even for a film of the "high art" genre but admitted that some of its imagery was striking and original. The ostensible subject of this basically storyless film, shot with black-and-white and color segments, is the depressing, aimless, and futureless life of a sodden former trumpet player in the slummiest sections of Los Angeles. However, the main theme seems to be the imagery the film captures of the bleakest and most decayed portions of that famous city. Another plus is the film's jazz-oriented soundtrack.