I’d not heard of Alice Guy-Blaché either, thanks for the recommendation!
First greats… I would agree that The Mysterious X (1914) is remarkable and very ahead of its time. Ditto Louis Feuillade’s film serials Fantômas (1913) and Les Vampires (1915). L’Inferno (1911), an Italian interpretation of Dante’s Inferno, is of note, but I’d recommend finding a copy without the completely incongruous Tangerine Dream score.
Even earlier, I’d recommend a lot of Georges Méliès’ films, particularly The Merry Frolics Of Satan (1906), The Impossible Voyage (1904), A Trip To The Moon (1902) and Bluebeard (1901). He ought to be represented better on this site, he was really ahead of the game and his influence is still palpable.
As for 19th century cinema, I’d like to bring up the name of Émile Reynaud, responsible for the first “proper” animations. As early as 1892, he was producing 15-minute-long hand-painted animations which for some reason were never appreciated at the time. A few years later, and other artists had built on his techniques – to far greater praise. Allegedly, he was so angry and disappointed that he threw his life’s work into the Seine… although a two-minute film is available on Youtube:
The longest in one session, without breaks, would be Sátántangó… it is a pretty crushing experience, but near-unmatchable.
Die Zweite Heimat is the longest “film” I’ve seen (it’s had a cinematic release… I think it’s fair to call it a film). At 25 hours, it’s quite a heavy watch, but bear in mind it’s split into episodes.
Other pretty sizeable films seen (in bits, naturally): the first and third Heimat (15 and 11 hours respectively), Shoah (9 hours), Tie Xi Qu (9 hours) and Napoléon (6 hours). If anyone knows of any other long films I could easily find on DVD or the net, please let me know, I love a good challenge!
There’s a great head explosion in this Japanese flick called Kichiku Dai Enkai. In the heat of a fight, a guy tied to a tree stump gets his head blown off with a shotgun… but the bottom jaw remains and jiggles around a bit. Some great noises…
I’m currently studying for a film degree. The course is a mixture of academic and practical modules, so there’s never a dull moment really. Just finished the first year, so the most avant-garde film we watched was Un Chien Andalou. However, I completed an art foundation the year before where we were occasionally encouraged to watch films such as Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle and the work of Kenneth Anger. Throughout my educational experiences in cinema and art, I’ve also pushed myself to watch the “unwatchable”. Otto Mühl’s Scheiss-Kerl and Sodoma were… interesting, to say the least.
Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 was a lot of fun, definitely watching that again. Mr. Ice Cream Man is immeasurably sbig (so-bad-it’s-good) and inspired a drinking game among my friends which we couldn’t actually complete because we were laughing too hard. And anything “directed” (I use the term very generously) by Godfrey Ho, he of a thousand aliases, all of them crap. His impressive filmography includes such classics as Thunder Ninja Kids: Wonderful Mission, Leopard Ninja Fist and Robo-Kickboxer – Power Of Justice. This guy now teaches film at degree level… yikes.
Ha, people are beating me to the punch left, right and centre! Murakami is pretty much covered, especially with the real-life promise of Anh Hung Tran’s interpretation of Norwegian Wood next year. I’d like to see Kafka On The Shore tackled by someone like Shunji Iwai.
If Béla Tarr makes any films after The Turin Horse, I hope he takes a gamble on one of the stories from James Joyce’s Dubliners. Araby would be sweet, and I’ve always wondered how his interpretation of The Dead would go.
Counting dead directors, I’d give Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Wizard of the Crow to Djibril Diop Mambéty, as it seems they both have a great sense of satire. Living, it’d be Abderrahmane Sissako… although it might completely change tone.
There’s something very sexy about Mylène Jampanoï, but it’s not quite the breathtaking beauty of some of the others listed here. She’s pretty, I’d say. Ditto Sophie Okonedo.
I’ll go with Monica Bellucci.
I also think someone should just go totally out there and big up Rossy de Palma.
Before Sunrise was an impersonal load of wank. I still don’t understand why people consider it one of the most romantic films, it’s just another Richard Linklater puppet show. Having said that, I do like both Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, they’re exceptional actors in their own rights.
Juno has already been mentioned here several times… with good reason, I think. Everything about that film bugs me… very artificial. I’m surprised De Palma’s Scarface is remembered so fondly too. I can understand its impact at the time, but is it really one of the best films of the eighties?
Just had a discussion with a mate on the subject… thought of plenty more. Most of them I didn’t intensely dislike, just that I don’t think they deserve acclaim. I realise a lot of these have already been brought up , just felt I should add my votes:
All About My Mother The Departed Life Is Beautiful Lost In Translation The Shawshank Redemption Forrest Gump Akira
Fell in love with both Chinese Roulette and Ali: Fear Eats The Soul upon first viewing. They’re still favourites. I quite enjoyed the apathetic acerbity of Love Is Colder Than Death. I really ought to see more Fassbinder actually. I feel a pretender for hailing him a genius not having seen some of his greatest works. Hoping to do Berlin Alexanderplatz this year with some mates… all in one, if we’re feeling ambitious.
Forgive me if this has already been covered, but I just couldn’t help myself.
So, some of us may be aware of Ridley Scott’s upcoming (well, after the Alien prequel) adaptation of the famous board game Monopoly, an idea which has left many scratching their heads in an attempt to eke out a plot. I personally thought it was a joke, then when I found out about Peter Berg’s designs on Battleships, the promise of a big-screen version of The Sims, and the Hollywood remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation (itself a remake of RotLA made by three twelve-year-old boys), I figured this HAD to be an elaborate mesh of jokes. Apparently not, as all of the above projects have been greenlit.
I think we ought to get in on the game. People, find an innocent, simple concept, like a bottle of Evian or The Very Hungry Caterpillar, flesh it out into a complex plot, cast some appropriate actors and hand it to a director of your choice. Let’s see if we can’t outdo the bigwigs.
I’m gonna go with Latawnya, The Naughty Horse, Learns To Say No To Drugs (refer here for the epic original). Larry Clark takes the helm here, guiding bitch-slut-whore extraordinaire Latawnya (Chloë Sevigny*) through her first experiences with drink and drugs. The screenplay takes a slight deviation from the book, the emphasis here not being on the life lessons, but rather the lazy-eyed nihilism and suffocating subjugation endured by our heroin(e). The film ends on an HIV-positive note, Latawnya passed out in a vomity, syphilitic mess in her stable having learned almost nothing from her experiences. Rated 18 (12 in the Netherlands).
Excellent choice, Mariel. I particularly like the nauseating double-meaning of “knit”… I feel like the tagline ought to reflect this, rendering the experience of watching the film completely pointless.
Sextette (1978). A geriatric Mae West seduces Timothy Dalton while Tony Curtis, Dom DeLuise, Ringo Starr, Alice Cooper, Keith Moon and a whole host of shiny guys look on in admiration.
It’s a musical, by the by. And Mae West is acting all “Mae West”, making raunchy double entendres and raising her eyebrow flirtatiously, despite being 84 at the time of shooting. Sick bags at the ready.
Marketa Lazarová is gobstopping, I recommend everyone get their hands on a copy. As I remember it, Valley of the Bees was quite a jolly jaunt too. Agreed it’s not in the top ten Czech/Slovak films by a long stretch (man, they have so many good films), but worth a gander. That is all.
Are there plans to release any more Hiroshi Shimizu? I’m really keen to see Children of the Beehive and its sequel, as I remember reading a very positive review of them somewhere.
Jodorowsky received the boxset treatment over here in the UK, but the distributor, Tartan, have since gone bust and they are pretty expensive now, so I would be all for an Eclipse release of his work. I’d also love to see Tusk and The Rainbow Thief, but I hold little hope for that…
Finally, I feel there is room for a collection of experimental Third Cinema films. It makes sense to me that, in establishing a film language (regardless of how much it subscribes to preexisting film styles), there must be a point at which the filmmaker disposes of plot and other structures in order to experiment with the true flexibility of the moving image. As Westerners, we are mostly exposed to the most conventional works from these countries, those best resembling film movements such as neorealism. I admit that this might not fit into the Eclipse pantheon, but films like Soleil O surely deserve the outstanding Criterion treatment.
I’m blessed in that, both at home and at university, I have a great local cinema. The cinema at home is an arthouse cinema which costs me £2.50, and they always have on an interesting selection of films, sometimes before the rest of the country. The seats are essentially armchairs, and while it’s a popular place, because of their frequent runs no screening is ever crowded. The one at uni is a little more – £4, sometimes £5 – but they cater for the uni’s film and art students by getting in reels on demand. To coincide with my tutor’s photo exhibition on punk, they got in a rare first copy of Jarman’s Jubilee and one of Radio On. If I’m going to be paying a few quid for a rental DVD of the same films, I may as well fork out one or two more for the privilege of seeing it on a big screen, where I will be completely focused and relaxed.
Eureka and Tony Takitani are exceptional films. I really enjoyed Nobody Knows until the last act, but I can understand why Koreeda is so celebrated. Has anyone seen Hanging Gardens and Mourning Forest? I thought both of those were pretty underrated.
I completely agree with the choices of The Fall of the House of Usher and Ménilmontant. Both are missing from my DVD collection and each deserves Criterion’s generous treatment. How about some Danish films – Det Hemmelighedsfulde X, or perhaps The Abyss? I also believe L’Atlantide ought to be seen by more people, so I’d suggest that too.
Germany’s film output in the twenties was pretty unrivalled – Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, Faust… I’m also quite the lover of Jean Epstein’s The Fall Of The House of Usher as well. Ménilmontant and Japanese Girls At The Harbor are two films which use the silence very well to their advantage.
I remember renting Werckmeister Harmonies and Damnation at a time when I believed nobody I cared for would love me back as much as I wished they did. I kept watching the sequence where Kerrer watches the singer perform Kész az Egész, it seemed to resonate perfectly with my feelings.
I think everything’s been covered already. I’d really like to see more of Jean Epstein’s work, particularly his island-based documentaries. I would also like to see someone create an outstanding tribute to William Castle by introducing interactive elements as he did with his screenings… totally not Criterion’s style, but I’m still holding out a hope.
I completely agree that Yasuzo Masumura and Yuriy Norshteyn are underseen. I’m also surprised how little discussion there is of Wojciech Has… the man was an exceptional filmmaker, a more sober Jodorowsky. Actually, on the subject… did anyone else know that the dispute Jodorowsky had with his producer Allen Klein (which led to his films being unavailable to the public for a long time) was originally because he refused Klein’s offer to film an adaptation of The Story of O? Just found out a minute ago, kind of amusing.
I’m starting an art project about film – basically, I will be producing audio tracks for films (possibly silent films) which are created by scanning the images with a special synthesiser, essentially translating the film into music. I have done a lot of experimentation with cymatics (sound-wave visualisation) before and I love the idea of a perfect unison of image and sound. I have to support the project with a contextualising essay and am somewhat stuck for art/film movements and individual artists to research. So far, I’ve looked into New Punk Cinema, Len Lye, Christian Marclay, John Cage and Scanner (who I have met in person and greatly admire). Any further suggestions?
Robert, the project is about film and is part of a “postmodern film” module for my course. I agree, I will need to look at each strand independently – in fact, I’m hoping to raise some questions about dissonance between sound and image, and the end product(s) will hopefully transcend this uncomfortable marriage in some way. I am thinking of focusing on silent film because, as you say, they often get a bum deal with newly-written scores. Two dreadful examples are L’Inferno (1911) and Little Toys (1933).
Traag-1, thank you very much for the recommendation, I’ll check him out!
Ooh, I love Xenakis and Kandinsky, good suggestion. I’m a synaesthete myself and have researched quite a bit about the sensorium, or the “theatre” of the senses. I would like to include the translation of music into image for contrast, although the project would need to be specifically centred on film, so I would need to make it relevant.
Has anyone seen or heard of …era erera baleibu izik subua aruaren… (1970)? It’s a seventy-five-minute abstract animation in which the artist painted directly onto film every frame with a different combination of colours. Sounds somewhat similar to the works of Len Lye and Harry Smith.
The first great film almost 3 years ago
I’d not heard of Alice Guy-Blaché either, thanks for the recommendation!
First greats… I would agree that The Mysterious X (1914) is remarkable and very ahead of its time. Ditto Louis Feuillade’s film serials Fantômas (1913) and Les Vampires (1915). L’Inferno (1911), an Italian interpretation of Dante’s Inferno, is of note, but I’d recommend finding a copy without the completely incongruous Tangerine Dream score.
Even earlier, I’d recommend a lot of Georges Méliès’ films, particularly The Merry Frolics Of Satan (1906), The Impossible Voyage (1904), A Trip To The Moon (1902) and Bluebeard (1901). He ought to be represented better on this site, he was really ahead of the game and his influence is still palpable.
As for 19th century cinema, I’d like to bring up the name of Émile Reynaud, responsible for the first “proper” animations. As early as 1892, he was producing 15-minute-long hand-painted animations which for some reason were never appreciated at the time. A few years later, and other artists had built on his techniques – to far greater praise. Allegedly, he was so angry and disappointed that he threw his life’s work into the Seine… although a two-minute film is available on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5MXcxaRXNc
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The first great film almost 3 years ago
Okay, so I suck at embedding videos or even hyperlinking… little help? :p
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3 Favourite Movies From 5 Favourite Directors almost 3 years ago
ANDREI TARKOVSKY
Stalker
Mirror
Andrei Rublev
____________________
DAVID LYNCH
Mulholland Drive
The Elephant Man
Eraserhead
____________________
BÉLA TARR
Werckmeister Harmonies
Sátántangó
Damnation
____________________
KIM KI-DUK
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter… And Spring
3-Iron
Samaritan Girl
____________________
F. W. MURNAU
Faust
Nosferatu
Sunrise
Echoing the complaints of others… those are five of many. :P
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The longest movie you've ever sat through almost 3 years ago
The longest in one session, without breaks, would be Sátántangó… it is a pretty crushing experience, but near-unmatchable.
Die Zweite Heimat is the longest “film” I’ve seen (it’s had a cinematic release… I think it’s fair to call it a film). At 25 hours, it’s quite a heavy watch, but bear in mind it’s split into episodes.
Other pretty sizeable films seen (in bits, naturally): the first and third Heimat (15 and 11 hours respectively), Shoah (9 hours), Tie Xi Qu (9 hours) and Napoléon (6 hours). If anyone knows of any other long films I could easily find on DVD or the net, please let me know, I love a good challenge!
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Heads explode almost 3 years ago
There’s a great head explosion in this Japanese flick called Kichiku Dai Enkai. In the heat of a fight, a guy tied to a tree stump gets his head blown off with a shotgun… but the bottom jaw remains and jiggles around a bit. Some great noises…
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Best Film Course Attended? almost 3 years ago
I’m currently studying for a film degree. The course is a mixture of academic and practical modules, so there’s never a dull moment really. Just finished the first year, so the most avant-garde film we watched was Un Chien Andalou. However, I completed an art foundation the year before where we were occasionally encouraged to watch films such as Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle and the work of Kenneth Anger. Throughout my educational experiences in cinema and art, I’ve also pushed myself to watch the “unwatchable”. Otto Mühl’s Scheiss-Kerl and Sodoma were… interesting, to say the least.
Go to Comment
The Best Worst Films of All Time almost 3 years ago
Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 was a lot of fun, definitely watching that again. Mr. Ice Cream Man is immeasurably sbig (so-bad-it’s-good) and inspired a drinking game among my friends which we couldn’t actually complete because we were laughing too hard. And anything “directed” (I use the term very generously) by Godfrey Ho, he of a thousand aliases, all of them crap. His impressive filmography includes such classics as Thunder Ninja Kids: Wonderful Mission, Leopard Ninja Fist and Robo-Kickboxer – Power Of Justice. This guy now teaches film at degree level… yikes.
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You choose the book to make into a film. Then choose the director. Go! almost 3 years ago
Ha, people are beating me to the punch left, right and centre! Murakami is pretty much covered, especially with the real-life promise of Anh Hung Tran’s interpretation of Norwegian Wood next year. I’d like to see Kafka On The Shore tackled by someone like Shunji Iwai.
If Béla Tarr makes any films after The Turin Horse, I hope he takes a gamble on one of the stories from James Joyce’s Dubliners. Araby would be sweet, and I’ve always wondered how his interpretation of The Dead would go.
Counting dead directors, I’d give Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s Wizard of the Crow to Djibril Diop Mambéty, as it seems they both have a great sense of satire. Living, it’d be Abderrahmane Sissako… although it might completely change tone.
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WHO IS / WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FILM ACTRESS EVER? almost 3 years ago
There’s something very sexy about Mylène Jampanoï, but it’s not quite the breathtaking beauty of some of the others listed here. She’s pretty, I’d say. Ditto Sophie Okonedo.
I’ll go with Monica Bellucci.
I also think someone should just go totally out there and big up Rossy de Palma.
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Movies you hated that everyone else loves almost 3 years ago
Before Sunrise was an impersonal load of wank. I still don’t understand why people consider it one of the most romantic films, it’s just another Richard Linklater puppet show. Having said that, I do like both Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, they’re exceptional actors in their own rights.
Juno has already been mentioned here several times… with good reason, I think. Everything about that film bugs me… very artificial. I’m surprised De Palma’s Scarface is remembered so fondly too. I can understand its impact at the time, but is it really one of the best films of the eighties?
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Movies you hated that everyone else loves almost 3 years ago
Just had a discussion with a mate on the subject… thought of plenty more. Most of them I didn’t intensely dislike, just that I don’t think they deserve acclaim. I realise a lot of these have already been brought up , just felt I should add my votes:
All About My Mother
The Departed
Life Is Beautiful
Lost In Translation
The Shawshank Redemption
Forrest Gump
Akira
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Favorite fassbinder film almost 3 years ago
Fell in love with both Chinese Roulette and Ali: Fear Eats The Soul upon first viewing. They’re still favourites. I quite enjoyed the apathetic acerbity of Love Is Colder Than Death. I really ought to see more Fassbinder actually. I feel a pretender for hailing him a genius not having seen some of his greatest works. Hoping to do Berlin Alexanderplatz this year with some mates… all in one, if we’re feeling ambitious.
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Ridiculous adaptations almost 3 years ago
Forgive me if this has already been covered, but I just couldn’t help myself.
So, some of us may be aware of Ridley Scott’s upcoming (well, after the Alien prequel) adaptation of the famous board game Monopoly, an idea which has left many scratching their heads in an attempt to eke out a plot. I personally thought it was a joke, then when I found out about Peter Berg’s designs on Battleships, the promise of a big-screen version of The Sims, and the Hollywood remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation (itself a remake of RotLA made by three twelve-year-old boys), I figured this HAD to be an elaborate mesh of jokes. Apparently not, as all of the above projects have been greenlit.
I think we ought to get in on the game. People, find an innocent, simple concept, like a bottle of Evian or The Very Hungry Caterpillar, flesh it out into a complex plot, cast some appropriate actors and hand it to a director of your choice. Let’s see if we can’t outdo the bigwigs.
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Ridiculous adaptations almost 3 years ago
I’m gonna go with Latawnya, The Naughty Horse, Learns To Say No To Drugs (refer here for the epic original). Larry Clark takes the helm here, guiding bitch-slut-whore extraordinaire Latawnya (Chloë Sevigny*) through her first experiences with drink and drugs. The screenplay takes a slight deviation from the book, the emphasis here not being on the life lessons, but rather the lazy-eyed nihilism and suffocating subjugation endured by our heroin(e). The film ends on an HIV-positive note, Latawnya passed out in a vomity, syphilitic mess in her stable having learned almost nothing from her experiences. Rated 18 (12 in the Netherlands).
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Ridiculous adaptations almost 3 years ago
Excellent choice, Mariel. I particularly like the nauseating double-meaning of “knit”… I feel like the tagline ought to reflect this, rendering the experience of watching the film completely pointless.
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The Best Worst Films of All Time almost 3 years ago
Sextette (1978). A geriatric Mae West seduces Timothy Dalton while Tony Curtis, Dom DeLuise, Ringo Starr, Alice Cooper, Keith Moon and a whole host of shiny guys look on in admiration.
It’s a musical, by the by. And Mae West is acting all “Mae West”, making raunchy double entendres and raising her eyebrow flirtatiously, despite being 84 at the time of shooting. Sick bags at the ready.
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Our favourite paintings: the great Auteur Gallery almost 3 years ago
Alexej von Jawlensky’s Abstract Head (1928):
Also quite impressed with the biro sketches of Il Lee:
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The Auteurs' World Cup: Comments and reviews almost 3 years ago
Marketa Lazarová is gobstopping, I recommend everyone get their hands on a copy. As I remember it, Valley of the Bees was quite a jolly jaunt too. Agreed it’s not in the top ten Czech/Slovak films by a long stretch (man, they have so many good films), but worth a gander. That is all.
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What films would you like to see included in future ECLIPSE releases? almost 3 years ago
Are there plans to release any more Hiroshi Shimizu? I’m really keen to see Children of the Beehive and its sequel, as I remember reading a very positive review of them somewhere.
Jodorowsky received the boxset treatment over here in the UK, but the distributor, Tartan, have since gone bust and they are pretty expensive now, so I would be all for an Eclipse release of his work. I’d also love to see Tusk and The Rainbow Thief, but I hold little hope for that…
Finally, I feel there is room for a collection of experimental Third Cinema films. It makes sense to me that, in establishing a film language (regardless of how much it subscribes to preexisting film styles), there must be a point at which the filmmaker disposes of plot and other structures in order to experiment with the true flexibility of the moving image. As Westerners, we are mostly exposed to the most conventional works from these countries, those best resembling film movements such as neorealism. I admit that this might not fit into the Eclipse pantheon, but films like Soleil O surely deserve the outstanding Criterion treatment.
Go to Comment
WHY GO TO THE MOVIES? almost 3 years ago
I’m blessed in that, both at home and at university, I have a great local cinema. The cinema at home is an arthouse cinema which costs me £2.50, and they always have on an interesting selection of films, sometimes before the rest of the country. The seats are essentially armchairs, and while it’s a popular place, because of their frequent runs no screening is ever crowded. The one at uni is a little more – £4, sometimes £5 – but they cater for the uni’s film and art students by getting in reels on demand. To coincide with my tutor’s photo exhibition on punk, they got in a rare first copy of Jarman’s Jubilee and one of Radio On. If I’m going to be paying a few quid for a rental DVD of the same films, I may as well fork out one or two more for the privilege of seeing it on a big screen, where I will be completely focused and relaxed.
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best foreign films from 2000 onwards - Japan almost 3 years ago
Eureka and Tony Takitani are exceptional films. I really enjoyed Nobody Knows until the last act, but I can understand why Koreeda is so celebrated. Has anyone seen Hanging Gardens and Mourning Forest? I thought both of those were pretty underrated.
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silent films that deserve to be on Criterion. almost 3 years ago
I completely agree with the choices of The Fall of the House of Usher and Ménilmontant. Both are missing from my DVD collection and each deserves Criterion’s generous treatment. How about some Danish films – Det Hemmelighedsfulde X, or perhaps The Abyss? I also believe L’Atlantide ought to be seen by more people, so I’d suggest that too.
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Ridiculous adaptations almost 3 years ago
Oh my… I have no words for Gaylord. Except MAKE. IT. NOW. Would it be a CGI project? I’m going to proffer Todd Solondz for this one.
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YOUR FAVORITE SILENT FILM, PLEASE. over 2 years ago
Germany’s film output in the twenties was pretty unrivalled – Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, Faust… I’m also quite the lover of Jean Epstein’s The Fall Of The House of Usher as well. Ménilmontant and Japanese Girls At The Harbor are two films which use the silence very well to their advantage.
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What scene in a movie matched perfectly with your life at the moment that you couldn't help but explode with emotions? over 2 years ago
I remember renting Werckmeister Harmonies and Damnation at a time when I believed nobody I cared for would love me back as much as I wished they did. I kept watching the sequence where Kerrer watches the singer perform Kész az Egész, it seemed to resonate perfectly with my feelings.
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Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 2 years ago
I think everything’s been covered already. I’d really like to see more of Jean Epstein’s work, particularly his island-based documentaries. I would also like to see someone create an outstanding tribute to William Castle by introducing interactive elements as he did with his screenings… totally not Criterion’s style, but I’m still holding out a hope.
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Favorite underseen/unknown directors over 2 years ago
I completely agree that Yasuzo Masumura and Yuriy Norshteyn are underseen. I’m also surprised how little discussion there is of Wojciech Has… the man was an exceptional filmmaker, a more sober Jodorowsky. Actually, on the subject… did anyone else know that the dispute Jodorowsky had with his producer Allen Klein (which led to his films being unavailable to the public for a long time) was originally because he refused Klein’s offer to film an adaptation of The Story of O? Just found out a minute ago, kind of amusing.
Go to Comment
Sound and image combined over 2 years ago
Hi gang,
I’m starting an art project about film – basically, I will be producing audio tracks for films (possibly silent films) which are created by scanning the images with a special synthesiser, essentially translating the film into music. I have done a lot of experimentation with cymatics (sound-wave visualisation) before and I love the idea of a perfect unison of image and sound. I have to support the project with a contextualising essay and am somewhat stuck for art/film movements and individual artists to research. So far, I’ve looked into New Punk Cinema, Len Lye, Christian Marclay, John Cage and Scanner (who I have met in person and greatly admire). Any further suggestions?
Much appreciated!
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Sound and image combined over 2 years ago
Robert, the project is about film and is part of a “postmodern film” module for my course. I agree, I will need to look at each strand independently – in fact, I’m hoping to raise some questions about dissonance between sound and image, and the end product(s) will hopefully transcend this uncomfortable marriage in some way. I am thinking of focusing on silent film because, as you say, they often get a bum deal with newly-written scores. Two dreadful examples are L’Inferno (1911) and Little Toys (1933).
Traag-1, thank you very much for the recommendation, I’ll check him out!
Go to Comment
Sound and image combined over 2 years ago
Ooh, I love Xenakis and Kandinsky, good suggestion. I’m a synaesthete myself and have researched quite a bit about the sensorium, or the “theatre” of the senses. I would like to include the translation of music into image for contrast, although the project would need to be specifically centred on film, so I would need to make it relevant.
Has anyone seen or heard of …era erera baleibu izik subua aruaren… (1970)? It’s a seventy-five-minute abstract animation in which the artist painted directly onto film every frame with a different combination of colours. Sounds somewhat similar to the works of Len Lye and Harry Smith.
Go to Comment