Eponymous
**Seen at the 2025 Atlanta Film Festival
There’s something dreamlike about Caroline Rumley’s “Eponymous.” Culled from 16mm film from the early 20th century, it feels like a film made out of a desire to preserve the images rather than telling a narrative. And yet, a narrative is created from it, and it is a true one. I would not be surprised if you think this is a work of fiction, but in fact, the story we hear is true, and the people were actual people. It feels like a story layered on to images, and that is what makes the film so fascinating.
Rumley’s film is a documentary, however. Her husband is Hiram Maxim, and for most of us, that name would not mean much, but in American history, it is a significant one. His ancestor, also named Hiram Maxim, invented the first automatic machine gun, and the elder Hiram Maxim’s son, Hiram Percy, invented the silencer. On top of that, however, Hiram Percy also was an early advocate for personal filmmaking, an evolution from simple photography. If that all sounds convoluted, there are other Hiram’s and Maxim’s we will learn about, so don’t get too comfortable just yet. The footage throughout most of the film was shot by Hiram Percy Maxim, who wanted to change his name.
It’s hard to know quite where to start with this film. On the surface, you could almost be forgiven for thinking that this is an experimental narrative film on Rumley’s part, as she uses long-lost filmed elements of real people to create a narrative of a family where name, legacy and invention are intertwined. But Hiram Maxim and his family tree is very real, and this is how Rumley tells their story. And what a strange and rich one it is. Just from a visual standpoint, this film had me from the get go. The way she reuses specific footage and tells specific aspects of the family’s story. The way early quotes on cinema are interspersed set to backdrops of patent blueprints. The music. Rumley’s narration. Knowing that this is a true story makes her choices in how to tell it all the stronger for the final film. “Eponymous” is a wonderful gem that pays tribute to a family’s life, and early cinema’s potential.
