Dog Star Man's Film Reviews [Archive]

Dog Star Man

11-01-09, 11:16 PM

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!(1965)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/ColtMoore/FasterPussycatKillKill.jpg

I want to start off my reviews on a semi-serious/semi-humorous note with a film I've loved since my prepubescent years, Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. Now when I was a young kid, I was a huge fan of shlock B-Z-movie entertainment, with Attack of the 50 foot Woman and Plan 9 from Outer Space. Those were the classics outside of the classics, but lets face facts here, when you start to grow older and you want to look are pretty girls, not a lot of options are open to you. That's where Russ Meyer changed my life with his low budget sexploitation flicks... but they weren't demeaning to women, and they weren't pornography either, they were entertaining flicks about busty women who didn't take **** from their male, (or female), counterparts. In a film which John Waters called, "The Greatest Film of All Time", Russ Meyer's magnum opus Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! opens with a warning to any prepubescent male, much like myself at the time, that:

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to violence, the word and the act. While violence cloaks itself in a plethora of disguises, its favorite mantle still remains... sex. Violence devours all it touches, its voracious appetite rarely fulfilled. Yet violence doesn't only destroy, it creates and molds as well. Let's examine closely then this dangerously evil creation, this new breed encased and contained within the supple skin of woman. The softness is there, the unmistakable smell of female, the surface shiny and silken, the body yielding yet wanton. But a word of caution: handle with care and don't drop your guard. This rapacious new breed prowls both alone and in packs, operating at any level, any time, anywhere, and with anybody. Who are they? One might be your secretary, your doctor's receptionist... or a dancer in a go-go club!"

BAM! Cut to the girls in to go-go club! Meet meanest, toughest, bustiest women you've laid eyes on. But they are the forbidden fruits of this cinematic-tree because the minute you cross them, they'll beat you... to death. As perverse as it may sound, this is where Russ Meyer triumphs. He creates wonderful camp entertainment, it may very-well be sexploitation, but as I mentioned before, its far-far from pornography! As John Waters would later put it in The Simpsons, "Its camp! The tragically ludicrous! The ludicrously tragic!" Such a line could easily sum up Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. However, summing the film up in that context would be missing all the wonderful quirks of the movie itself.

Yes, the dialogue may be shotty; yes, the plot may be full of holes; yes, the actings not all there... but for the film itself... there is a lot of care going into the film actually. Russ Meyer isn't haphazardly putting together a film that won't stand up. In fact, for all its issues, it should fall apart, but it doesn't. It stands up tall because its filmed with a conscience. Had it not, it not only would have been totally disregarded as toilet-trash, but its camp value wouldn't have survived. That's part of the films bizarre genius.

For anyone who is even remotely interested in camp, I highly recommend Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! I think you will be pleasantly surprised!

My Rating:
4 1/2 Star of 5

Dog Star Man

11-07-09, 08:53 AM

Interim(1952)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/ColtMoore/Interim.jpg

Stan Brakhage's first film Interim is, by my definition, a masterpiece. Drawing inspiration from other famous avant-garde film makers of the time, (especially the works of Maya Deren), Stan Brakhage paints a neorealist portrait of the struggles humanity faces in the modern world. Interim is about the attempts to find love in the modern world, only to realize it will crumble apart without it flourishing in its natural environment.

Before Stan Brakhages move to more extreme avant-garde, where he single handedly put a huge chasm of influence in its realm, his ealier works like Interim focus primarily on idiosyncrasies of psychological human behavior; much like that of his contemporaries. However, what makes Brakhage unique is that he develops early on the subjects that are important to him, "Life, Death, Sex, and the Search for God". While not as highly prodominant as say in his latter films. Interim lightly indicates these subjects that would become so important in his works down the road.

For anyone interested in early Brakhage, I highly recommend Interim.

My Rating:

5 Stars of 5

Dog Star Man

11-07-09, 08:55 AM

The Harder They Come(1972)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/ColtMoore/TheHarderTheyCome.jpg

As I sit here writing the review for The Harder They Come, I listen to the film's soundtrack by actor and musician Jimmy Cliff. You Can Get It If You Really Want and the self-titled The Harder They Come play in a loop, for the songs are inseparable from the film and their beat and pulse make the film come alive. Reggae was known before films release, however it really was The Harder They Come that made the genre international with its spectacular hit soundtrack, and it would set the stage for latter musicians such as Bob Marley.

The Harder They Come ran amongst the midnight movie circuit in the 1970's, and in many theaters, (such as the Elgin which was synonymous with the creation of midnight movies), the film played for several years every weekend. It helped introduce American's to Jamaican films, a foreign culture at that time, and was one of the first Jamaican films to be released in the United States.

There is something to be said about this film. Though its soundtrack was, and still is, a total knock out. The film itself, though completely legitimately Jamaican, has an American appeal. It is almost as American as apple pie, and I'm not trying to steal the flame of its rightful Jamaican heritage, but part of its appeal to the American audience is that it works within the context of "The Dream". In America we have all heard of and were raised on the stories of "The Dream", what we know of here as "The American Dream", whether it be Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Dream" for opportunity and equal rights for people of all colors, all the way down to a vision of Al Capone's "Dream" of ruthless renegade corporate ambition. "The Dream", notice I'm not saying "The American Dream", is illustrated in this film. For "The Dream" exists outside of American culture. Everyone has "The Dream", its what keeps us alive; its our hopes, our ambitions, our modus operandi; and without it we may never strive to go forward. That's where this film works. It works on what I like to call the "Universal Concept" level.

The film is about Ivanhoe "Rhyging" Martin, based on a real Jamaican outlaw and folk hero. How interesting that again we see a similar theme and a cross between cultures. The famous/infamous outlaw which is regarded as folk hero is not limited just to the American West, but this sometimes obtuse vision of "romanticized crime" is open wide to the world. Ivanhoe in real life even being refered to as "The Jamaican Dillinger", again, an American-influenced name. And still today his myth in Jamaica continues with the story of "Duppy", (a ghost or spirit), of him exists in Jamaican children's stories. To bridge a gap here, we can see these myths predominat in very own culture; American children are raised on stories of the outlaw west, and mythos such as Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox, (while nothing but a exaggerated myth), are in the same vain as "Rhyging the Duppy". To go further, Jimmy Cliff, (the actor/musician who plays him in the movie), refers to him as "Robin Hood". Again, we work here with "Universal Concepts", and that's the cinematic pulse that helps keep this film standing tall.

As I've illustrated, we've all seen this film before in America. What we refer to as "The American Dream" comes through in melody with the films opening song, You Can Get It If You Really Want:

You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try, try and try
Try and try, you'll succeed at last

Persecution you must bear
Win or lose you've got to get your share
Got your mind set on a dream
You can get it, though harder them seem now

You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try, try and try
Try and try, you'll succeed at last
I know it, listen

Rome was not built in a day
Opposition will come your way
But the hotter the battle you see
It's the sweeter the victory, now

You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try, try and try
Try and try, you'll succeed at last

You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try, try and try
Try and try, you'll succeed at last

You can get it if you really want - I know it
You can get it if you really want - though I show it
You can get it if you really want
- so don't give up now

Scarface: The Shame of a Nation and its latter remake, (which came after this film), shares the films under current of an ordinary guy with huge dreams of making it big in a world confined by rules and regulations. What he, Ivan, wants more than anything is freedom. He is a songwriter, a bird, who needs to sing and have the freedom to fly away. He doesn't fit in to the confines of church, the rules of the bible are too constricting. Therefore, the world, and even the heavens, reject him. So when his plans for commercial success of his "would-be-hit" album fail to make ends meet, he resorts to selling ganga, but he doesn't want to be a mere seller, he wants to be at the top, regardless of those who tell them to, "Ask no questions, and tell no lies". Since his methods don't suit well with his superiors, they try and bump him off, but an outlaw will never be taken down without a fight. Freedom for him is too valuable. I suppose it does say something about greed; but it is the greed for money, fame, and power that makes us more free than others. Soon after he has become a "World Infamous" outlaw his "would-be-hit" becomes "hit" with The Harder They Come:

Well they tell me of a pie up in the sky
Waiting for me when I die
But between the day you're born and when you die
They never seem to hear even your cry

So as sure as the sun will shine
I'm gonna get my share now of what's mine
And then the harder they come the harder they'll fall, one and all
Ooh the harder they come the harder they'll fall, one and all

Well the officers are trying to keep me down
Trying to drive me underground
And they think that they have got the battle won
I say forgive them Lord, they know not what they've done

So as sure as the sun will shine
I'm gonna get my share now of what's mine
And then the harder they come the harder they'll fall, one and all
Ooh the harder they come the harder they'll fall, one and all

ooh yeah oh yeah woh yeah ooooh

And I keep on fighting for the things I want
Though I know that when you're dead you can't
But I'd rather be a free man in my grave
Than living as a puppet or a slave

So as sure as the sun will shine
I'm gonna get my share now of what's mine
And then the harder they come the harder they'll fall, one and all
Ooh the harder they come the harder they'll fall, one and all

Yeah, the harder they come, the harder they'll fall one and all
What I say now, what I say now, awww
What I say now, what I say one time
The harder they come the harder they'll fall one and all
Ooh the harder they come the harder they'll fall one and all

He now becomes his own hit, he is the chart-topper. Though he foreshadows his own doom in his own song, he doesn't seem to mind. For living the rogue life of seemingly unlimited freedom is better than living without it and being truly, by his terms, dead. The film even calls out to the notion that the hero "can't die till the last reel", alluding to Django which was seen earlier in the picture. How interesting therefore that we do not see an American western, but rather a Spaghetti western. Is this film trying to beat out the concept, which I mentioned prior to this discourse, that "The Dream" is not limited to America?

It is a marvelous film regardless. Though I have not come around to it completely, (due to the fact I have not seen it as much as I'd like), which inevitably hurts his rating with me; I suspect The Harder They Come is going to be one of those movies which is much ahead of me. It will take time for me to completely be flowing on its cinematic and musical level, but once I get there, I'm sure I will have felt I've reached the promised land; The Land of Opportunity.

My Rating:

4 Stars of 5

Dog Star Man

11-07-09, 10:06 AM

Tetsuo: The Iron Man(1989)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/ColtMoore/TetsuoTheIronMan.jpg

Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a difficult film to approach because the film is impossible to comprehend in "conventional" terms. I am not about to make an "unconventional" review, but I will attempt to review its unconventional and experimental-narrative structure. Because it is avant-garde in nature, because it relies heavily on ambiguity and the speculation of the viewer; I cannot pin a film like this to the ground as say I did with Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and The Harder They Come. This however, is the films drawing point, and if you don't except that sort of thing that's okay too, but if you do, I find this film to be quite pleasurable. With a runtime of an hour and ten. The film clocks by so quickly with me that I hardly notice that I even began the film to begin with. That to me is an illustration of something within the film working. I've seen films that run ten minutes and feel like hours, and those are the worst kind; but when you get a film along the lines of say Lawrence of Arabia which runs almost four hours and it feels as if time wasn't an issue, that's when you know you've struck gold. While I wouldn't say I've "struck gold" with Tetsuo: The Iron Man, I will say it is a film which holds high value and regard to my own eyes. It is not a film for everyone, which is why I say, with much emphasis, "holds high value and regard to my own eyes".

Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a Japanese "Cyberpunk" film. In the words of David Ketterer, Cyberpunk is the focus on "High-Tech and Low-Life". We can see this premise working within the confines of films like Bladerunner. Many films, arts, and literature in the 1980's had a common themes that technology would out-influence man's own capabilities, and Tetsuo: The Iron Man works within this theme, but to its utmost extreme. Tetsuo: The Iron Man relates technology on a level of the HIV virus. Let us examine the film.

One of the first sequences of the film involves a woman and a man, (our main character), sitting in a metro terminal waiting for the next train. The woman sees a lump, a glob of technological mutation, laying on the ground. It is the virus that will open the Pandora's Box of cybernetic mutations to come. She touches it with her pen, (phallus perhaps?), and soon becomes infected. Her hand becomes more machine than flesh, and soon she chases after our main character. She is the cyber-sexual predator, and soon her "infection" will be transfered, (had it not already existed mildly), into our primary character.

Later on in the film the man and his girlfriend try to engage in sexual intercourse, but his very sexual member becomes transmutated into an object of dangerous technological influence. To be touched by this mechanical penis means infection and painful death. As the man becomes "The Iron Man" his very infector, the technological-AIDS creator, becomes imbodied in the corpse of his late girlfriend. Nothing can stop him except those who live outside the confines of technological influence, (which is also seen within the symbolis of a tramp), but in the end, nothing can stop technology. The films statement soon becomes, "Technology is the new virus, and it will be victorious".

There is a certain charm to this film which I like. Its rooted deep within the underground. It makes no attempt to become "mainstream" and that's part of its appeal to me. Its narrative, purely experimental; its techniques, simplistic in design, yet complex to the viewer. You must work for this film in order for the film to work for you. That's what really holds the film together in my eyes. That's what makes the film move so quickly along the runtime. You are an active viewer when you watch Tetsuo: The Iron Man, and if one passivly watches the film, they will not only miss its wonderful ambiguities, but they will be missing the very point of the film it self, which is to "engage" much like technology within the film itself engages its victims.

I personally love Tetsuo: The Iron Man, but I will admit, it is not for everyone. To the viewer who likes his popcorn and soda pop whilst watching his latest Hollywood fair, steer clear... but to all those who want "hardcore action", cinema-style, by all means: "Engage".

My Rating:

4 Stars of 5

Golgot

11-07-09, 10:50 AM

Nice mix of films you've got going here :)

Hitch says something similar to the 'active viewing = high paced film' idea you mention in the Tetsuo review, but as something intrinsic to the story construction, that should then influence the viewer. Been a long while since I've seen it, but I'll endeavour to be an active cog in the machine if/when I rewatch :)

meatwadsprite

11-07-09, 03:49 PM

Nice reviews, looking forward to more :yup:

mark f

11-07-09, 04:01 PM

Dog Star Man

11-07-09, 06:33 PM

I thought I was pretty active while watching Tetsuo, Tetsuo II and Tokyo Fist. I was actively yelling at the screen to try to make some sense and to not keep on going long after whatever points were being made laid around in dead horses' blood. :cool: I still enjoy the reviews.

To quote myself:

I personally love Tetsuo: The Iron Man, but I will admit, it is not for everyone. To the viewer who likes his popcorn and soda pop whilst watching his latest Hollywood fair, steer clear...

I've already read your top 100 films list. Its a solid list I must say, some great films on there, but as far as abstraction in film, you and I have much different tastes.

beelzebubbles

11-07-09, 06:43 PM

Fight, fight, fight!!!

Dog Star Man

11-07-09, 07:26 PM

Fight, fight, fight!!!

What's to fight about. They would be subjective arguments that would produce no clear cut result. No, we won't be doing that.

mark f

11-07-09, 07:27 PM

Dog Star Man

11-07-09, 07:42 PM

Thanks for reading my list. It will always remain a work in progress.

I'll tell you what. You said that you thought that Persona was not especially avant-garde and I find that difficult to grasp. How about you check out the Persona thread (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=17362&highlight=persona) and the Alain Resnais thread (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=436063&highlight=Resnais#post436063) and discuss what is and is not avant-garde about those. I would love for anyone to discuss those films. You see, my ratings don't necessarily reflect how interested I am in a film or genre. There are just so many films one can discuss, but I'm trying. I do have a copy of Dog Star Man. Who else besides you here has one? My daughter just went to a screening at USC of a collection of classic avant-garde films, including those of Brakhage, Kenneth Anger, Joseph Cornell, Larry Jordan, etc., so I really need her to post that here. Sarah?

I'd love to join those conversations. Bear in mind, I consider Persona to be avant-garde, but it's rather tame compared to the stuff that I'm used to watching. Consider Persona in comparison to Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon. Its rather an easy film to read, (Persona). Compare Meshes of the Afternoon with say Dog Star Man or Black Ice and that requires more than just a leap, but a catapult to get you to the other side, (that is if your willing to take the ride). When I see these more "technique heavy" avant-garde films, I become inspired myself, which is why I enjoy them so much. Again, different strokes for different folks, but if there are "levels" of avant-garde, I'd rate Persona along the lines of Interim which I already reviewed.

mark f

11-07-09, 07:53 PM

Dog Star Man

11-07-09, 08:06 PM

So are you saying that you enjoy avant-garde films because it makes you feel part of an inside group or something similar? I realize that you enjoy non-avant-garde films plenty, but do you actually believe that you have to approach different films from different perspectives? I realize that may sound like an ignorant question but my point is how do you determine that a certain film merits some more-specialized analysis than another one, and I'm really serious here because although I was brought up on "mainstream" films, I'd reckon that many of the grade-Z, low-budget genre films I've watched down through the years from childhood are just as avant-garde in their alleged storytelling techniques than the classics of the genre which you love. Cross my heart. Who is it to actually determine what constitutes "avant-garde" and why is it important to know? Zaat seems very avant-garde to me, and I give it a crap rating. At what point do you draw the line between "legit avant-garde" and BS?

I just go with what feels right to me. Simple as that. Its not complicated. There have been times, such as Jean-Luc Godard's Weekend, where I felt he wasn't being witty, sincere, or innovative, but was just jerking me around. Other people see that film and call it a masterpiece, I don't share that opinion because Weekend doesn't feel right to me. In Dog Star Man there is a sequence in Part II that always astounds me of a shot of a baby's face which is zoomed out from, superimposed, and intercutted in on itself to create a sensation of "falling into" the frame. Astounding work, absolutely astounding. It "felt" right to me, and I go with my gut. As a person who wants to be a career-artist, that's what I have to do. Its just inherent in my nature, and I think a stray away from this concept would be rather damning.

mark f

11-07-09, 08:13 PM

That's a very good answer even if it's open-ended, but I believe it's good because everyone could say the same thing about something in their life, even if it has nothing to do with art. Then again, if someone really cares, then their life is a form of art and expression is all we have to share with each other.

I have a major problem with most Godard, so I'm not sure if you're agreeing with me or just pointing out a place where you and Godard diverge.

How does a "career artist" make a living being avant-garde (with few exceptions), or is that only part of your career?

Dog Star Man

11-08-09, 02:06 AM

The Times of Harvey Milk(1984)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/ColtMoore/TheTimesofHarveyMilk.jpg

There are few times in cinema in which I am moved to tears. As far as documentaries are concerned, they have been few and far between, but I do remember the moments when they happen. I remember the moment in Hoop Dreams where Arthur Agee is set up to have a match with his sports hero Isiah Thomas, the unscripted joy in the boys face brought tears to my eyes. I remember watching Ken Burn's The Civil War and utterly falling apart of the overwhelming horrors blacks slaves endured on a daily basis, especially realizing that many of the old slaves, who would inevitably be set "free" at the end of the bloodiest war in American history, would never truly know the precious "freedom" we take for granted today. Today I also shed a tear, once again for human liberty and human rights with The Times of Harvey Milk.

The cinematic documentary format has been for years, and still is today, a shaky format. In his book Making Documentary Films and Videos, Barry Hampe has critisized his very own format for falling into the traps of docudramas, reality television, and docuganda. I tend to agree with his criticism; real documentaries are not Schindler's List, real documentaries are not Survivor, and real documentaries, (currently popular today), are not Bowling for Columbine, or to swing the other way, Stolen Honor. Documentaries, as Hampe puts it, are "truth" or "as close to the whole truth" as one can get. Sadly, much of this notion seems to be lost in a sea of corporate ambitions to use "documentaries" as a way to appeal to a denominator of people not interested in "the truth"; or it is lost the sea of todays highly polarized politics, without care of giving all the facts.

However, I was pleasantly surprised with The Times of Harvey Milk. Here I came into it expecting a "docuganda" film on the politics of the man himself, instead, the impression that was ingrained on me in the end was a cry out for basic human rights. I never once felt coerced into believing a "political ideology", which this film could have easily become, but rather a statement that we should love all our brothers and sisters regardless of race, sexual orientation, or, and especially or, creed.

Harvey Milk was a gay democrat, yet he managed to bring people together and pushed this nation a little further into the notion that equal rights should be just that, equal. That's what the films ultimate statement is on. I don't even think the film is completely, (though it is), a statement on just "gay rights". It is a statement on equality, and that's what makes this film so lasting and true. The minute they showed all the people marching along the San Francisco streets at night to honor the deaths of Milk and Moscone, I couldn't help but cry. It just showed that out of complete chaos and disorder, human decency could still exist. Though the aftermath of the killings was completely unfair, the documentary shows that even in death the spirit and influence of Harvey Milk continues to live on. Even though Dan White got away with murder, Milk still won in the end.

For anyone who is interested in documentaries, I highly recommend The Times of Harvey Milk.

My Rating:

4 Stars of 5

Dog Star Man

11-08-09, 02:20 AM

How does a "career artist" make a living being avant-garde (with few exceptions), or is that only part of your career?

Well I like to quote Micheal Powell & Emeric Pressburger's film The Red Shoes:

Boris Lermontov (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0906932/): Why do you want to dance?
[Vicky thinks for a short while]
Victoria Page (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0790452/): Why do you want to live?
[Lermontov is suprised at the answer]
Boris Lermontov (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0906932/): Well I don't know exactly why, er, but I must.
Victoria Page (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0790452/): That's my answer too.

I don't really want to live in a fancy house. I don't mind sporting a job in which I'm not paid a handsome salary. I just want something to live on as I make art films. I'm not after fame, glory, or fortune. However, if I can create a work of art that moves me emotionally and aesthetically, then I'll be happy with my life. What do I do to make a living being "avant-garde"... simple... whatever it takes.

sarah f

11-08-09, 05:28 AM

I think you'll get some points for quoting The Red Shoes...
And yeah, I went to a screening of several avant-garde films made in LA and the preservationist from the Academy Film Archive who worked on them put it together and introduced them and did a Q&A afterward. He actually didn't show ant Brakhage films, he just talked afterward about how he's been working on restoring a ton of his stuff lately. I suppose I could start with a list of the films they showed, though didn't Dog Star Man start a thread about avant-garde cinema? This feels like it belongs there more... Anyway... --- ------ (1967), Throbs (1972), Bondage Girl (1973), Pasadena Freeway Stills (1974), unc. (1966), Venusville (1973), Stasis (1976), Rose for Red (1980), Mirror People (1974), Future Perfect (1978), Olivia's Place (1966/74), Venice Pier (1976), Picasso (1973), and Sears Sox (1968).
I think by far my favorite was Pasadena Freeway Stills. It's just so awesome... Visually pretty amazing, in my opinion, and it basically just shows the process of making moving images. But the more I think about them, the more others stand out as well. There were plenty of funny, amusing films showed that night. But there were also films that were kind of boring and during which I zoned out a little bit. Like Stasis I think was one of those. It just showed a river flowing and the size of the image got progressively larger until it filled the whole screen but nothing much happened other than water flowing. And Venice Pier only because of the length kind of got to me. It was really interesting and had some amazing images (actually the same director as Pasadena Freeway Stills) but it was just so long that sometimes I felt like I wasn't paying that much attention. When the time lapse stuff came into play though and the ocean and the clouds were moving super fast but the pier was stationary, my mind was pretty blown... Though, I have to say, while watching the films, I was thinking, "these are really interesting" and in some cases "amazing techniques/ideas being used here" but I kept bringing it back to using them in the context of a full-length narrative (probably because that's the kind of films I want to make). Anyway, I feel like I shouldn't have submitted this here and am not hijacking this thread. Forget everything I just said and focus on Dog Star Man's reviews... Though I would be interested in hearing which of the movies I've listed he's seen...

Dog Star Man

11-08-09, 02:41 PM

sarah f

11-08-09, 03:02 PM

Well, the only place I know of that has these films is the Academy Film Archive because that's where the prints I watched came from... And I think they'd been pretty recently restored by them, but I could be wrong.
And what kind of films do I want to make? Um... I'm not sure that that's easy to explain in a few words... I suppose I could tell you some ideas I have, but then someone could steal them... Not that I'm really paranoid... I want to make a bunch of different kinds of movies, whatever interests me. I'm very much a story person, so if a story or character intrigues me, that's all that's necessary really. That's not to say I'm not a visual person, I'm a photographer (at least in my mind) and visuals are very important... I'm not answering your question, am I? I really want to make an adaptation of The Sound and the Fury... If that gives you any idea. And I would love to do a Bobby Driscoll biopic and a remake of La decima vittima and I have a bunch of ideas, probably too many for where I'm at right now. Original stuff too, of course. I'm writing almost all the time now actually.
Where do you go to school? I was just wondering because Ventura isn't that far away from me...

Dog Star Man

11-08-09, 09:23 PM

I'm in limbo right now, I had to get some issues to take care of, but I'm hoping to either get into UCLA or UCSB.

sarah f

11-08-09, 10:15 PM

Interesting. We may be rivals then...

Dog Star Man

11-08-09, 10:43 PM

Rivals? How do you figure?

mark f

11-08-09, 10:47 PM

She's a USC Trojan. UCLA would be a rival.

Dog Star Man

11-08-09, 10:52 PM

I'm not into "school rivalries". As far as I'm concerned I'm just there to learn what I can, get my degree, and get the hell out to do what I want. She's not a rival to me, she's a fellow film maker learning the craft along with me. We shouldn't be rivals, but companions. By the way, I salute the fact she's going into the craft. We need more women and minorities in American film.

Dog Star Man

11-10-09, 04:56 AM

Glen or Glenda(1953)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/ColtMoore/GlenorGlenda.jpg

A Z-movie picture with a pulse, Glen or Glenda is a hysterically bad movie by infamous director Edward D. Wood Jr. Like many Wood films to come, Glen or Glenda tries to send a message out to 1950's society, but the attempts ultimately backlash due to the directors complete ineptitude. That backlash, however, is the film's charm. Outside of Plan 9 from Outer Space, (which I personally regard as a cinematic masterpiece and it will always hold a secure spot in my top 100 films list), Glen or Glenda is perhaps my second favorite in Ed Wood's schlock fair. From beginning to end it provides bust-your-gut-laughing entertainment.

Tim Burton once said something along the lines that, "What took one person a sentence to illustrate, it took Ed Wood at least five." In a way you could sort of feel bad for the man behind the camera, I imagine Ed Wood wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but that to me is really part of the films draw. He's the cinematic spokes person for the lower common denominator, and I think movies need more of that actually. Sure we can laugh at the results when humor comes unexpectedly. But I recall a certain Hollywood producer who would, regardless of how terrible the film may be, always give a standing ovation to movies because he understood quite well the efforts that went into making them. Granted there are films people aren't going to like, (and I have plenty that I don't enjoy), but I will still have a underlying respect for the project no matter how flawed.

Glen or Glenda is extremely repetitious. In all honestly, a more capable director could have cut this 70 minute film down to about 5 minutes; but then again we wouldn't get the charms of memorable quotes like, "The roads carrying cars, carrying people, carrying out their daily lives," it is easy to figure that if Wood is this repetitious in his very own dialogue the essential screenplay itself would illustrate the same. Wood's point in the film is to make a statement in 50's society that his lifestyle of transvestism should be accepted. So for a good hour he reiterates this point, over and over again. You may say this might get dull after awhile, and for all purposes it really should; but the thing that keeps this film afloat is all its non-sequiturs. Stock footage, Bela Lugosi as "Puppet Master", surrealist dreamscapes, bizarre sexual acts, and staged/filmed footage by Wood himself. This movie is almost a Citizen Kane of terrible results, not ideas.

As with my review of Tetsuo: The Iron Man, I will say Glen or Glenda is not for everyone. The reason I mention this is that some may have a bias that films should act and behave certain ways. I, however, don't share this viewpoint and when it comes to the issue, you could say I am very liberal-minded. Maybe its a fault of mine, but I don't treat it as such. Surprisingly I do have films I really don't like, an example would be The Great Outdoors which to me follows such a "scriptwriting 101" format of comedy that its not funny but dreadfully fomulaic. When I feel something is made for corporatism, (which may be the reason I don't particularly care for contemporary cinema so much), I tune out. That's where I can respect something like Glen or Glenda, its a personal film, no matter how laughably-flawed.

My Rating:

4 Stars of 5

Dog Star Man

11-10-09, 07:13 AM

Dog Star Man(1962-1964)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/ColtMoore/DogStarMan.jpg

So here it is, a long awaited review of my namesake, Dog Star Man. This is the film, more than any other film, which liberated my existence as film maker and film artist. The man behind this masterpiece of composition, Stan Brakhage. Oddly enough, this isn't my favorite work of his. I suppose my favorite work would have to be his latter, Black Ice, but something about Dog Star Man has jarred me from all my preconceptions of what "film" is. Its a film for film makers, and looking at it through any other lens would be rather preposterous.

Stan Brakhage had his roots in Maya Deren in the beginning of his cinematic career. Brakhage and many avant-garde artists of the time copied Deren and her poetic dreamlike productions, but come 1962 when Dog Star Man is created, something happens, something even as I write this I cannot explain. Dog Star Man takes the cinematic medium and propels it into a realm that has nothing to do with cinema at all. I don't consider Dog Star Man a film, frankly, I am at a loss of words to illustrate exactly with it truly is. It is art; its medium is celluloid; but somehow it transcends the very medium which it is printed on. Dog Star Man doesn't exist in the known dimensions of cinema, therefore, it is something almost completely incapable of being fully understood. Anyone can view the "film", but it exists in the realms of the mystics, transcending all logical practice in favor of something intangible.

This is a personal review for me, so instead of utilizing the "you" I will substitute with the "I".

As I watched Dog Star Man I not only saw the beginnings of the universe, but its inevitable death as well. The exploration of the concepts that were so important to Stan Brakhage, "Birth, sex, death, and the search for God," come forth not in single file, but rather all at once. It was difficult for me to grasp this concept at first, the very notion that the artist could beat out infinite concepts at once seemed impossible, but I stood boldly corrected. I soon felt I was in the presence of a divine magician, neither white nor dark, but someone who's very nature was neutral; both achromatic and shadeless. I was witnessing the beauty of birth, and the horror of death. I was witnessing something that had no definition except that of "God". It was a spiritual experience for me. Something unlike I have ever encountered before or since. It was visual Zen:

The bamboo-shadows move over the stone steps as if to sweep them,
but no dust is stirred;
The moon is reflected deep in the pool,
but the water shows no trace of penetration.

It is said that once you experience a "Zen" moment, things become clearer, and that certainly became the case after I viewed all of Dog Star Man in its five parts; from Prelude to Part IV. Soon, I became liberated from the tangible world of cinema. I soon realized that there was a God, that the heavens existed, and one didn't have to experience death to find it. I realized that kind celestial beauty was all around me, and at any moment I could meditate and find it. Dog Star Man, therefore, became the film that pushed me ever closer into Eastern concepts of religion and spirituality, a belief that I could truly find and be with that kind of omnipotant beauty and place of powerful calm anytime I wished to be. The fear of death has left me.

The films impact on me wasn't just in its spirituality, but it was also in its aesthetics and practice. Everything about that film that was so mystical and foreign became a fascination to me. I loved the techniques utilized within the film of intercutting, superimpostions, zooms, hand painted celluloid strips, time exposures, etc. Everything I witnessed seemed limitless in creation. However, the thing that has influenced me the most within the film itself, as a film maker, is the very fact that Stan Brakhage had virtually nothing to create this film. He created a masterpiece, and I say that without any restraint, of extremely powerful spiritual, personal, and visually radiant work all by himself. This was one man's vision. In Dog Star Man, Stan Brakhage didn't have lighting equipment, (he used all natural lighting); a crew, (he was alone in the mountains with only his family); a high-end camera, (shooting on 16mm); or sound equipment, (he felt it would subtract the viewer away from its visual magnificence). Stan Brakhage illustrated to me, more than any other film maker, that you don't need these things to make your work, all it takes is the individual, the vision, with the determination to do it. Since my initial viewing of Dog Star Man, in this regard, I have tried to emulate him as much as possible. I've gone out many days and nights filming and experimenting with my own camera. I am therefore free from the confines of narrative structure. The need for crew, equipment outside of camera, high-end cameras, sound, etc. I don't give it the time of day anymore. I just do.

This is why Dog Star Man has become the most important film to me in my individual experience. I don't expect anyone to share this experience, but this is the experience that I have that must be told. If you read this review and become interested, all the better, by all means, view the film for yourself and come to your own conclusions. Its a film which expands my vision and propels me to create and live.

My Rating:

5 Stars of 5

Dog Star Man

11-15-09, 09:10 AM

I think I'm going to keep my reviews simply to films 4 Stars +. I don't really want to review bad films, I don't think they would deserve my time and effort. All other "reviews" would go in the Movie Tab thread.

Dog Star Man

11-15-09, 02:55 PM

Ed Wood(1994)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/ColtMoore/EdWood.jpg

Ed Wood has become a personal comedy to me. There are probably other comedies I find more enjoyable, but this is the one that really sticks with me.

I have been a fan of 1950's and 1960's B and Z movies since I was a kid. The whole retro space-age stuff really clicks with me; down to diners made in the shape of foods, "atomic cars", and bowling shirts. It was a time of camp, and the B and Z movies of the era reflected this better than any other films I thought. Sure, Alfred Hitchcock was in his "Golden Age" in the 1950's, and I watched his films with much admiration, but they were timeless classics. His films, and many of the great films existing within that epoch, transcended the times all together and left them behind. This isn't a bad thing, in fact its a very good thing, but to truly capture the times of that era, I felt I had to go deeper into the recessions of B and Z cinema. As a kid, I had seen movies like Plan 9 From Outer Space, knowing it was considered one of the worst films ever made by the world's worst director. But I was so enamored with its humor and camp value that I didn't consider it a movie as terrible as people made it out to be. I hadn't seen any other Ed Wood picture until years later when they finally released a DVD box set, (which I own), that included a majority of his films and the VHS format, along with Blockbuster Video, became a thing of the past. By that time I had seen Tim Burton's Ed Wood and had grown an even further appreciation for the man who created films which I adored as a kid. The film soon shared a view which I shared as a kid, there needed to be a righteous ode to these classics that were severely overlooked as celluloid trash. Even though these films didn't share the polish of a Hitchcock or Kazan picture, they were still just as important as the major productions.

Ed Wood is also about one man's "Persistence of Vision" in quite literal terms. His films are terrible, but he has a vision he is unwilling to compromise. Ed Wood desires nothing more than to make a picture, and he will go to any length to get his movies made. He doesn't exploit others to get the picture made, (though Bela Lugosi's own son thinks differently), rather he just doesn't give up, he sees things though to the very end even in the roughest times. When financing is all washed up, he tries finding another backer, again and again. I honestly think that story should be told to any film maker trying to produce a movie. Ed Wood is perhaps the most honest about producing and its troubles in all its regards.

The movie is also a portrait of two artists; Ed Wood, and just as important, Bela Lugosi. The two become inseparable in this film. They are tied together as one. The film could have taken the route of painter, (Wood), and painter alone, by going into the director's other films like Jail Bait and Night of the Ghouls; but for this movie, the painter (Wood), is nothing without his paints (Lugosi), and vise versa. The two soon become a director/actor duo that is seen time and time again throughout cinema history. The films may not be as applauded as say Kurosawa/Mifune, Hitchcock/Stewart, or Scorsese/De Niro, and in this case, Burton/Depp; but something should be said about relationships like these, a there is a true friendship, a bond, which the film poignantly illustrates. Though Lugosi's son thinks Wood exploited his father, he never once asked Lugosi, (going through financial trouble himself), to sport the money for his films. Ed Wood was rather an admirer of the man and his work, and Lugosi could have died without making Ed Wood's films, but then he would have died without doing what he loved to do. An actor needs to act; just as much as a bird needs to fly. Its not the sky in which the bird flies, or the stage in which the actor acts, it is the very nature of doing what you were put on Earth to do which is important. That's all that truly matters, and that to me is what this film illustrates. It is not the ends, rather the means of artistic vision.

My Rating:

5 Stars of 5

michaelcorleone

11-15-09, 07:56 PM

Good review to a fantastic film.

Dog Star Man

11-15-09, 08:03 PM

Thank you sir! I appreciate your feedback! :D

Dog Star Man

11-16-09, 12:15 PM

Meshes of the Afternoon(1943)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/ColtMoore/MeshesoftheAfternoon.jpg

Maya Deren was unquestionably the mother of avant garde cinema in America, and though she created few films, the works she created have an everlasting quality to them. Though I do not consider Meshes of the Afternoon to be her finest work, (that would have to go to A Study in Choreography for the Camera due to its extremely personal nature), it still is considered by many, including myself, to be a masterpiece. In my opinion, it trumps Luis Bunuel's and Salvador Dali's Un Chein Andalou. While I enjoy Un Chien Andalou, it never truly gave me the sensation that I was in a dream. It always felt as surrealist fabrication, a work under construction, rather than a surrealist reality.

Though some credit Meshes of the Afternoon to be a creation of its co-director, Alexander Hammid, but I will always bitterly argue this point because the aesthetics that one sees in all Deren's work remains consistent within the film. There is a keen sense on poetics and choreography which creates a certain rhythm and flow predominant in all of her films. That rhythm is something that I do not find in other artists, and it is the main draw when I approach her. Her work is like water, it is completely fluid; rushing down a sequence of surrealist events which may or may not be real. The thing about Deren's surrealist dreamscapes is that all "realities" come unexpectedly, but when they do eventually occur, they seem completely natural. This naturality of images and sequences gives the viewer a sense of visual transparency not found in other films. That's not to say her work is predictable, on the contrary, what that "transparency" does is give the viewer a greater sense of dreamlike authenticity.

Meshes of the Afternoon has been described as a woman's reality and a woman's nightmare. Being confined into walls which most likely cannot contain her. She is a victim to the time itself. Within the movie she cannot escape her own front porch without ending up back where she started. The keys to her very freedom exist within the tongue, (words), of her mouth. The men of her life confine her. And through all this a woman is left to reflect on her own self image for she has damned herself to this nightmare most of all. There is hope however, and that is by breaking the images which she and society have created upon her. But this independence may spell her inevitable destruction, it is up to her to decide.

I thoroughly enjoy Deren's works; she has become, to me, cinema's one and only poet. In film, we have plenty of "novelist" directors making headway in the three realms of cinema; (first, second, and third). But so few directors have captured the beauty of what is "cinematic rhythm" or "cinematic poetry" the way Maya Deren has. She truely is a master existing in her own realm.

My Rating:

4 1/2 Stars of 5

Prospero

11-18-09, 09:13 AM

I love your reviews, DSM, and look forward to reading more of them. Although I'm not a huge fan of avant garde films, I do like movies that challenge me and make me think (I loved Tetsuo: The Iron Man).

Keep 'em coming.

Dog Star Man

11-23-09, 07:41 AM

Scorpio Rising(1964)

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Scorpio Rising is perhaps my favorite Kenneth Anger film. In it, Anger focuses on the ritual of a culture that helped define a bye-gone era. Every act within the film becomes almost like a religion; from the 1950's "biker" music, to adolescent dreams of grease and leather, and the inevitable collapse of its counterculture lifestyle.

Many of Anger's films are intellectual avant-garde "music videos", many of them focusing on ritual, which I can't stress enough. Anger himself being fascinated with the occult and the ritualistic magic "practices" of Crowley, Anger's films therefore focus heavily on what drives us as individuals. From the ritualistic practices of a woman dressing in Puce Moment to Rabbit's Moon where the ritual process became the clown ever glancing at a moon too high for his reach. Anger's films become the analysis of the idiosyncracies of human obession. No one should expect anything less then out of Scorpio Rising where the films primary focus is on the rituals of biker culture which, through the films eyes, becomes a religion of grease, leather, homosexuality, anti-politics, and death.

Beginning the film with Ricky Nelson's song "The Fool's Rush In (Where Angel's Fear to Tread)", as the title suggests, those who wish to tango with the biker counter culture are the fools playing with too much heat. Young children who play with wind-up toy motorbikes dream of the days when they can work on the bigger toys, the actual bikes themselves. The film digresses into routine of bike repair; the garage and everything in it becomes the bikers natural habitat. Then we focus on fashion, the ceremonial dress of the individual; leather, tight pants, skull rings, nazi caps, and studs. We also focus on their lives when they aren't in the garage or in the streets; watching Brando's The Wild One, idolizing the late James Dean, and reading comics like Charlie Brown. From there we observe the almost homosexual nature of men engaging in the culture which is entirely testosterone driven; the violence and the immaturity that comes from teenage males pours through like an unstoppable current. What we witness next is the counter-politics of nazi fascism inherent in the men; the politics of hatred, fear, and death. Soon those men who engaged in the madness, the "Fool's Who Rushed In (Where Angel's Fear to Tread)", will soon "Wipe Out" as the final Surfaris song indicates. They will die with the era, or die in the fast lane.

Again, what is so appealing about Anger's films is his focus on defining man through their daily nature. I wouldn't say his films are for everybody, but if you can get on his wavelength I think anyone would be pleasantly surprised by his works.

My Rating:

5 Stars of 5

Dog Star Man

11-24-09, 10:58 AM

Kustom Kar Kommandos(1965)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/ColtMoore/KustomKarKommandos.jpg

Another avant-garde "music video" by Kenneth Anger. Kustom Kar Kommandos is a short film, (running 3 minutes), about the sexual obsessions between man and machine. As I mentioned in my review of Scorpio Rising, Anger focuses primarily on man and their ritualistic practices, whatever they may be. In Scorpio Rising it was the ceremonial acts of biker culture, in Kustom Kar Kommandos it is less about the rite of passages into a culture and more about copulation between men and their toys. From beginning to end, a hypnotic cover of "Dream Lover" by The Paris Sisters plays in the background while a man caresses the car with a pink feather cloth. The engine, resembling a womans breasts, are fondled by the stroke of his hands. His male friends come to admire his pride and joy, much like they would admire a beautiful girl. Finally he puts himself into the car, a metaphorical insertion, and drives off with his dream lover. The concept of lust coming before love is interesting and should require some introspection on the part of the viewer.

Again, like many avant-garde films I have reviewed here, it isn't for everybody. However, the aesthetics and ideas behind many of these films are challenging; they require an active audience, which is why I enjoy them so much. I have seen many avant-garde films which I don't like, Anger's Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome completely escapes me and rather bored me more than anything else. But for the movies that have engaged me on a challenging level, they get my complete adoration. Kustom Kar Kommandos is extremely interesting to watch because it blends ideas so seemlessly and becomes in the process as hypnotic as its "Dream Lover" soundtrack. I give this a high recommendation for all those interested in abstract cinema.

My Rating:

5 Stars of 5

Prospero

11-24-09, 02:12 PM

Dog Star Man

11-24-09, 02:40 PM

I jut watched this one on youtube and loved it. I'm not sure love really comes into play in this movie, but rather foreplay and consummation/copulation. Otherwise I agree with your interpretation. I watched this and the beginning of Scorpio Rising(up to The Devil in Disguise), and Anger clearly has a fascination with fetishism; a fascination which I share, which is probably why I like these two films so much (I really want to see the rest of Scorpio Rising).

Anyway, great reviews, and thank you for bringing these films to my attention.

I have another great Anger film which I'm going to review soon which is the 1950 version of Rabbit's Moon, (there are two versions and I think the 1950 version is the best). I absolutely adore that film. If you get a chance, try to look up that film as well. It mixes mime with kabuki acting, as well as servicing the commedia dell'arte. It's a bizarre mixture, I know, but somehow Anger manages to make it work. Also, the music is fantastic.

Dog Star Man

12-01-09, 08:53 AM

Akira(1988)

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/ColtMoore/Akira.jpg

Akira in my opinion is one of the greatest animes ever conceived. While most animes, (and animation worldwide), were cutting corners in production to create cost-effective films; Akira stood firm with hand painted animation, lip-synced dialogue, and a no holds barred action-drama that gripped audiences around the world. Akira was of a dying breed, but it soon single-handedly rejuvenated the anime industry, and its influence in its own realm cannot be understated. To this day, Akira is cited to be one of, if not the most, influential contemporary animes of our generation.

Akira is loosely based on Katsuhiro Otomo's 2,200 page manga of the same name. While the film doesn't have the time span to expand upon the manga's themes and overall plot elements, (in fact the manga wasn't even completed when the film finished production), the film Akira still manages to impress any audience member who wishes to view it with its incredibly complex narrative ambiguities. Though the film itself has been criticized for cutting down the elements which composed the manga. It is my opinion that the manga and film aid each other quite well and should both be looked at from different perspectives.

What makes Akira so lasting is the universal theme of man's obsessions with power and how again and again throughout history it has brought us our own demise. For Tetsuo in the film, it is the power not to be controlled by others. For the scientist, it is the power of knowledge. For the politicians, it is the power that comes from government authority and its inevitable corruption with greed and corporatism. For the military men, it is the power to control the citizens through acts of violence. Tokyo, (according to the film), had been destroyed once before by meddling in powers outside of their control. But as a common theme throughout the film, man is doomed to repeat history over and over again. It is the universal tragedy we must face. This, to me, is what also makes the film so appealing.

On a final note, I will say however, that Akira is a rather violent film and shouldn't be viewed by the squeamish; but for anyone who can handle the violence contained, it is a marvelous film. It is full of great ambiguities which appeal to the cinematic thinking man.

My Rating:

5 Stars of 5

Dog Star Man

01-11-10, 04:37 PM

Wild Gunman(1978)

http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/images/directors/06/40/gunman.jpg

It's usually a great pleasure of mine to watch any of Craig Baldwin's works, (thankfully, no relation to the untalented hacks, the Baldwin brothers). Craig Baldwin's works are, as he likes to put it, "underground". Many of his works are pseudo-documentaries illustrating points that are either intangible or not there at all. An example of this, (which I may review later), is Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America - The Shocking Truth About the Coming Apocalypse in which Baldwin takes conspiracy theories that have arisen over the century and molds them, connects them, into one massive conspiracy "documentary". The result is a rather entertaining "mockumentary" of irrational thought that has existed over the ages. However, I digress, onto the Wild Gunman review.

Wild Gunman is an example of an intangible documentary by Baldwin. The points illustrated aren't out in the open like a normal documentary would thrust you. Rather, the film makes it's points ambiguously; showing you clips of American culture and lifestyle to which one, at the end, must draw their conclusions. However most people come to the same conclusion that American culture has a certain insanity to it. I would be hesitant to say Baldwin is limitating this "insanity" to just American culture. If anything what Baldwin is illustrating, (as he did so in RocketKitKongoKit to some extent), is that each culture has its own flavors of insanity, just pick which one suits your fancy. In Wild Gunman Baldwin shows images of a child's game in which the child has to shoot the outlaw first before the outlaw shoots him. When the outlaw shoots the kid, he dies, when the kid fights back, there is constant reiteration of violence; slow motion or constant visual recaps. With this he interjects cigarette commercials, such as the Marlboro man and his slogans. Corporate needs to capitalize on violence as a selling point, then back to children playing outlaw vs. child. The end result is a bizarre understanding of ones own culture, (as I'm writing this from an American's standpoint). It's almost as if all preconceived notions you received growing up were a blindfold on your personal development and Baldwin has taken the liberty of taking the mask off.

As I will say, as I have with several of my reviews now. The film isn't for everyone, as most people do not share my taste in films. However, I do like talking about what I like, and I always love to expose people to new things if they are so inclined to take a chance with me. So if what I've reviewed intrigues you, please feel free to give it a shot, and by all means, enjoy.

My Rating:

4 1/2 Stars of 5

honeykid

01-11-10, 05:32 PM

Thanks for the review, DSM and, also, for mentioning Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America - The Shocking Truth About the Coming Apocalypse. It sounds like something that I'd certainly find of interest as, although I'm not really one for conspiracies (apart from Kennedy, which I think has more than a whiff of truth) I do find them interesting. Especially the way that, once you start listening to them, they do actually start to become more seductive without ever gaining any more credibility. The thought of them all being woven into one great MegaTheory, is very enticing.

meatwadsprite

01-11-10, 05:54 PM

Akira puts me to sleep as would many of the movies you review here probably would, but your reviews are very entertaining and maybe I should check out a few of these films.

Dog Star Man

01-11-10, 06:24 PM

As been my experience in my personal life, many people don't particularly care for the stuff that I like. So I take no offense whatsoever. I do however do my darndest to try to explain from my standpoint what I see in these works. Why I like them, etc. If you find my reviews entertaining, it is a huge compliment on my expressions. So thank you.

beelzebubbles

01-11-10, 07:42 PM

Hey DogStarMan have you ever seen Woman on the Dunes? And if so what did you think of it?

Dog Star Man

01-11-10, 07:51 PM

Hey DogStarMan have you ever seen Woman on the Dunes? And if so what did you think of it?

I own Woman of the Dunes on DVD, but I haven't seen that movie in a good five years, so whatever I can recollect would be useless. However, since its in my film library I'll check it out again and report back.

beelzebubbles

01-11-10, 07:53 PM

Thanks. Can't wait to see your review.

nebbit

01-11-10, 09:14 PM

Great reviews http://bestsmileys.com/dogs/2.gif looking forward to more :yup:

Dog Star Man

01-16-10, 01:45 AM

Alright Beelzebubbles, just cleared some time for Woman in the Dunes so here's the review I promised you!

Woman in the Dunes(1964)

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In approaching Woman in the Dunes, like many Hiroshi Teshigahara films that precurse it, one must think in the realm of metaphors and interpretations underneath the visual surface. If one looks at Woman in the Dunes with this prior intention, the interpretation of Teshigahara's film becomes very clear from outset. What we see during the opening credits is fingerprints, (presumably belonging to our central character), we don't know our characters name throughout the film until the end, in which, at that moment, it completely becomes irrelevant to the nature of the man himself; rather it acts as the final word on the illustrated point. With his fingerprints seen we cut to sand dunes which, as it so happens, resembles the texture of fingerprint identification. What is the synthesis of this cinematic combination? Teshigahara is illustrating right away that the film's current will reside in man's identification with himself.

While this point is made from its outset, and much throughout the film itself, Teshigarhara never lays all his cards out on the table until the very end. He knows he has already won the intellectual game, however he keeps the viewer guessing which card he will deck out next. The end result, no matter how ambiguous, still remains as clear as the water our character sees himself in at the end. No matter, at the beginning of the film our character asks himself, "Who am I in my ID, Passport, etc." (again hammering the point of personal identification), then he asks himself a deeper question, "What of man and woman?" This question isn't resolved until the end of the film.

Originally it is thought that the main character is a teacher who happens to work with rare species of bug living in the desert. He too is of a vocation which identifies, classifies, and captures life. He from the start is a microcosm of his soon to be reality. When he is "tricked" into living in the sand dunes with the woman, from which there is no escape, that is when the deeper meditation, "What of man and woman?" begins to unravel. This doesn't come all at once, and for its own sake it shouldn't have to, Teshigahara realizes that saving the knock-out punch until the end is much more rewarding. So much as the question is meditated on our characters mind. So is it in ours. What we see unraveling before us for the next hour and a half is a pure illustration of man's role in the world. Will he dig the (metaphorical) dirt in the (metaphorical) dune? Or will he choose not to and (metaphorically) dry up? And what happens when he (metaphorically) releases himself from his confines (a person who tries desperately to rid and deny himself of his true identity)? He becomes lost in the sea of endless dunes with people who are more than willing to drop him back into his reality.

Throughout much of the film, one feels the sense that this man's place is that of a teacher who works with insects. However a striking scene emerges where he throws the woman's tiny beads into the floor of sand. Then though a conversation, something arises. If not living in the dunes, where else? We shovel the metaphorical dirt at work so we can maintain our metaphorical dune, our household and lively hood. Is this life that much different from the outside? Suddenly there is a change of heart from our central character and he decides he will help her find the beads his thrown from her grasp while she sifts them through a sifter. The metaphor: The woman has brought the man visual clarity.

Yet the deeper question still remains unclear until the end? "What of man and woman?" I will not illustrate in my review what happens in the film, rather I will allude to it with a question, "What roles do men and women play in society? What is our identity in our sex? And who of which, will remain shoveling dirt once this life, (bestowed man or woman), has come to a close." If you give this question some thought, you will see clarity. Much like the woman sifting clarity through the sand of the dunes.

My Rating:

4 1/2 Stars of 5

beelzebubbles

01-16-10, 01:57 AM

I gotta tell ya kiddo, I think your analysis is far better than the film essay that is included in the Criterion Collection Dvd. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Dog Star Man

01-16-10, 02:07 AM

No problem Beelze, it was a pleasure. I mean it. I haven't seen this movie in a good number of years so I almost forgot how much I liked it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention again. I haven't read the Criterion essay for it, so now I'll be interested in what they have to say. Anyway, if you have another avant-garde film you'd like me to take a shot at I might give it some consideration. Avant-garde and art cinema are my bread and butter. ;)

Dog Star Man

01-20-10, 05:08 PM

A Study in Choreography for Camera(1945)

http://auteurs_production.s3.amazonaws.com/stills/32652/a-study-in-choreography-for-camera-1945.jpg

Maya Deren is perhaps my favorite female director for several reasons. Most of those reasons exist outside of the fact that she is avant-garde, so I don't think my opinion therefore is a biased one. What I find in Maya Deren is a distinct feminine creativity that I find most female directors compromise. I'll never say for a minute that there are not good female directors, or female directors without vision, but Maya Deren spoke of something in her own words which I think provides insight into the meaning of my statement. To give some background on this statement, Maya Deren was fascinated and studied a great deal, (almost providing a film on the subject, but she died before its completion), on the subject of Haitian voodoo. The Haitian rituals and their Gods and Goddesses. Her statement was profound in this sense and though this statement I'm making is not her word-for-word statement, (I couldn't find it online), I will recall to the best of my ability what she said, "It is [The Haitian Goddess] woman which provides insight and creativity, . Now why would one think this is? In a sense, it is woman who creates life, but it isn't just that. What provides woman with a greater sense of creative insight is the realization that one must endure and be patient for the truly great masterpieces to come into existence." This statement can be said on any of Maya Deren's works which is why I have enjoyed them so. There is a keen sense on time and space, which I will eventually get to. It seems to me that Maya Deren has been in meditation throughout her life; who is she as a woman? who is she as an artist? who is she as a female artist? and what does she believe? She is extremely bold, bolder for her time, and still bolder today. She is a woman who never once gave thought or credence to any form of patriarchy. Not because she lived in it, but rather in spite of it. Her questions were about the world and how it existed in the completely feminine context. This is something I rarely see in other female directors works, which seem to me take the grounds of, "I'm a woman living in a man's world," [to me, I see much of this in Breillat's work]; or there is almost a compromise to exist and come to terms within this, "man's world," [which, to me, I see in Harron's work]. These are almost, again not all, archetypal in what I see from most female directors. But what of Deren? She takes a different approach, she doesn't consider herself the be a victim of reality. Rather she comes to terms, introspectively, to who she is as a woman, disregards the masculine aspect altogether, and creates something that is, by my definition, completely female.

So with this introduction in mind, I will get to my review:

Maya Deren was a poet and dancer before she ever involved herself in the cinematic arts, which to me, makes this film not only her most personal, but also her best. The subject for [I]A Study in Choreography for Camera is a male dancer who dances this set ballet piece. Alone, this subject would be rather stagnant, but Maya Deren makes the subject of dance come alive and transcending all at once. As I've stated before, this is a set-ballet work, however through artistic means, Maya Deren makes the ballet transcending by cutting through space and time. We begin with a dancer who is beginning his dance in a forest, (most likely the dance was created by Deren herself), the movement he provides is a one torso motion from one side to the next. To visualize this type-motion, and become intimate with the subject in context, Deren decides to move her camera 360 degrees. One might see the danger in loosing the subject, and the dance itself. However, Deren understands quite well what is key not only to film, but to literature, (poetics), as well; the edit. Deren seamlessly edits a 360 degree motion and adds the subject, every 90 degrees, continuing his dance for the camera. He raises his foot, then Deren cuts through time and space itself, exiting the forest all-together, and we now have the foot entering a room of a house. The dancer continues his dance, and Deren continues to cut through time and space, consistently illustrating her dreamlike point until the dance reaches its peak, and ultimately conclusion.

One would ask about my introduction to this review and how does it relate to the film in question. We, in this film, as with her Meditation on Violence, are dealing with a male subject completely at the mercy of a woman's artistic vision. One may say this same aspect could be found with Breillat, however I disagree. Breillat's is a vision and existence of a woman within a "man's world". It is not taking the grounds of Deren which implies that she is her own existence and vision and whatever derives from that is completely, unadulterated, feminine. In this film she is communicating visually what her statement was, "a woman must endure and be patient to create", what she is implying is a woman creates her masterpieces, be it children or art, by the results of time itself. This is exactly what we see in this picture, a coming to terms, and transcendence, to what the nature of time itself really is. Though the film is under five minutes, she gives birth to an understanding not only of time and space, but also the beauty of life itself, (as seen in the dancer). Can we therefore come to a much grander conclusion, (that the Haitian voodooists believe), that woman and Goddess are not "slaves to a man's world", rather they are the creators of the world itself? In its time and space, and in its people? This is what I see within this picture, and it is in this understanding that I find this film to be so wonderfully beautiful, but also concurrently it drives in the point that Maya Deren is perhaps the greatest female director to have ever lived; and also one of the greatest directors, (male or female), to have placed a mark on cinema's history.

My Rating
5 Stars of 5

Dog Star Man

01-21-10, 08:45 AM

Venom and Eternity(1951)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_7VLuI_NXp2A/RskDH0soqkI/AAAAAAAAAD4/zGeTchIw8AA/s400/venom_idiots.jpg

I have a bizarre relationship with Venom and Eternity. In one sense I find its overall appearance, (how its directed, etc.), to be absolutely deplorable; on the other hand its ultimate lexicon and message is so far ahead of its time that even today I don't think many can come to terms with it. One perhaps may then ask, "Is this why the overall appearance of the film is so unpalatable to begin with"? Is the film maker, Isidore Isou, testing our limits of understanding by forcing us to look beyond what is on the surface? I wholeheartedly believe that the answer to this question is yes, and I have little doubt about this conclusion. For you see, when this film hit the scene in 1951 at the Cannes Film Festival, it enraged so many people that it caused a rather huge riot which ultimately had to be subdued via fire hose. One may disregard this as a film which is an utter failure, however; people walk out of failures... people riot when their ideals are challenged.

In few words, Venom and Eternity is less so a film and more so a visual radio broadcast. From it's inception we, for close to an hour, follow a man wandering the street speaking through his mind about how he hates all contemporary cinema, and how they lack any form of real creativity. He calls for a complete abolishment of the "visual film" and the creation of the "purely sound film". The entire film is essentially a rant on what our ideals of appropriate cinema is. In a way this film is a flawed masterpiece, the film is infinitely challenging in the concepts and ideas in which the film maker has given deep thought to; however the film it self is so poorly crafted that its hard to believe that his concepts are sound. Then again, I am reminded that Isou is taking the grounds of making an anti-film to create points which are, in essence, anti-film. If one can look past the cinematic criticism, and ultimately punkish behavior, that the exhibits; one can derive a profound sense of the limitless possibilities of film itself. A sense that there is no right and wrong, and everything is worth trying and risking no matter what the cost. The results, no matter how terrible they may be, will somehow someway influence another. I can easily state this about this film because it has illustrated this point to me. So the question of "purely sound film", instead of hustling and bustling about such and idea, (to the point of rioting), why not one try this concept in their films and see what grows from them? Venom and Eternity therefore becomes a battle cry to film makers willing to take on perceptual challenges and push films to a higher level of artistic merit.

If one looks at Venom and Eternity though a film making standpoint, I imagine they would enjoy it quite a bit. But for the audience which exists outside the confines of the film maker, I imagine this film is not for you.

My Rating:

5 Stars of 5

Dog Star Man

01-23-10, 09:38 AM

Black Ice(1994)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b88HXB9MghA

(Negate music! As it doesn't exist within the real film itself. Block it by turning off sound if you must.)

Black Ice resonates with me as my favorite of Brakhage's work. It is a film completely devoid of any narrative, but in substitute we see the very beauty of what could be, and what Brakhage has illustrated once again which is the transcendence into higher forms of visual art. One could easily say Stan Brakhage literally died for his masterpieces of artistic composition. Through years of working with lead-based paints, (well known to be cancerous), Brakhage devoided himself of all such thought and placed his work ahead of himself first and foremost. Eventually, he did die of cancer, but he accepted his death as part of the process which he admired. In his understanding, he had created a mark on the process of film, (which to me is rather an understatement). He did regret however that his concepts never took root in the public consciousness and wondered if his works, and others of his time period, were that of a living madness. However, I disregard this notion as 2001: A Space Odyssey's star gate sequence would have not existed without his innovations.

Regardless, Black Ice has influenced me in many ways. What I thought impossible, (as I did many things in Dog Star Man), Brakhage makes possible. He, in essence, creates a three dimensional film that is two dimensional in nature. How does he do this? Superimpostions of images which are intercutted and dispersed without one another. So what the viewer feels in return is a sense of going into the very frame itself. The YouTube link I proved is not a very good one, as it is not as clear to view and experience, as well as the fact that the so-called host takes the liberty of adding their music onto the film, (which Brakhage would never dream of doing, as in his belief sound subtracted from the visual experience, which is why I advised turning off all sound); however, despite all these complications, one may perhaps come to an understanding of other possibilities on which the visual cinematic format provides. As well as come to a certain understanding that all can be done and should as we progress though time. With this understanding, I hope one gains a greater appreciation of the cinematic format and questions all would-be limitations conjured in the mind, and ultimately disregards them altogether.

My Rating:

5 Star of 5

meatwadsprite

01-23-10, 12:40 PM

With this understanding, I hope one gains a greater appreciation of the cinematic format and questions all would-be limitations conjured in the mind, and ultimately disregards them altogether.
But this movie doesn't have a story, characters, or even sound ?

Dog Star Man

01-23-10, 02:48 PM

But this movie doesn't have a story, characters, or even sound ?

Try to view the film through the eyes of a Pollock painting, (which Brakhage and Pollock both knew each other in life). Pollock takes the stance of abstract-expressionist rage, which may have been influenced by his alcoholism. The result is a very tormented-type piece of modern art, and an introspective reflection on the pains of Pollock himself. However, though the lens of Brakhage, this film is also an example of modern art, only what Brakhage is trying to communicate here is the beauty of color and tries to persuade the viewer to fall into the very nature of these abstract colors themselves and find the true beauty in them. The majority of Brakhage's work has been about the love of nature and seeing things through "an untrained eye", (hence my signature). It's not a conventional film by any stretch of the means, but I find that it engages me on a personal level to find the beauty in the world around me, as if I had "an untrained eye".

Dog Star Man

01-23-10, 11:52 PM

Battleship Potemkin(1925)

http://uashome.alaska.edu/%7Edfgriffin/website/potemkin.gif

The influence Battleship Potemkin has had on the cinematic world from its initial conception-onward could not be overstated. Even Hollywood films which contested much of the radical ideals of European cinema of the day lauded Eisenstein's masterpiece. To this day Potemkin is studied in a wide range of film schools and film studies classes world wide. Perhaps the most important reason for this is the assumption of dialectical montage whereby thesis and anti-thesis create synthesis, which in turn creates the new thesis and onward. I have reviewed many films thus far, however, most of the films I have reviewed and praised throughout would have come under heavy fire under Eisenstein's keen eye. Many films I have reviewed would be considered what we refer to as "constructivist" and "modern", Eisenstein was deeply at odds with this approach to film making which is why he could not see eye to eye with his fellow contemporaries such as Dziga Vertov. Vertov's cinema was very much in the ideals of the European experiments of the time. His films, no matter how much visual grandeur, still function almost as if they are documentaries themselves. Eisenstein on the other hand was steeped in a tradition of Romanticism, which could explain to an extent why he held John Ford in high regard despite what was steep cultural and credo differences.

I thought it was important to mention Potemkin because of these circumstances. There is a cinematic mythos that one either relates to Eisenstein's Romanticized symbolic manipulations or a more Modern approach which is found throughout Vertov's work. This view is as damning, if not more so, than the relationship of viewers who place themselves within the certain "camps" of either Fellini and Antonioni. Taking on such vantage points impedes on the viewpoint that one may perhaps blend the possible notions of "Romanitcized Modernism"? Regardless, to those who disagree with Eisenstein's approach and view it as a more "manipulative" approach to film making, the question remains, in my mind, "Would the Revolutionary fervor of the era be handled so correctly without it?" If one views the methods of the Kuleshov Workshops though the process of a "operational paradigm", the end question that would be raised is the control and cost of utilizing the very technique itself. So if one thinks in terms of the Revolutionary times, Eisenstein is no more manipulative, (in my opinion), than that of Vertov who procured movies about the latter, more "stable", aspects of Soviet life.

What is interesting about Battleship Potemkin, (as with other Eisenstein films), is that such dialectical approaches to the films psychological responses are not limited only to montage itself. There is also a deep-bedded emotional aesthetic which layers upon this concept. Whether intended or not, Eisenstein allows the viewer to be "the thesis" to which he is "the anti-thesis" which, in turn, makes the viewer the ever engaged, ever emotional, and the ever changing "synthesis/thesis". How does Eisenstein achieve this? Unbeknownst to him or not, Eisenstein takes the vantage point of "anti-humanist", which is the "anti-thesis" to much of our concepts of perception and philosophies. So working on these two levels, is it any wonder the Odessa Steps is the most studied sequence in cinema history?

Battleship Potemkin would be, under normal circumstances, a very hard film to come to terms with because had certain sequences not been montaged with precision, the film itself would have been rather inaccessible. One takes into an account the "Daily Bread" plate-smashing sequence, in which the sailor commits two completely different forms of action at once. However, though the thought of montage, the "synthesis" that one derives from this action is one of unsettled mutiny. Throughout the film, these type of concepts are seen. Each action is therefore enhanced by unconventional practice, but is ultimately excepted by the well-defined edit itself.

I highly recommend this cinematic masterpiece to film lovers of all types. It doesn't hold such worldwide regard without reason. So by all means, enjoy.

My Rating:

5 Star of 5

meatwadsprite

01-24-10, 12:48 AM

Well after watching the entirety of Black Ice, I can't really argue with your review - but I could very much argue that it's not a real movie. Although your thread is titled "film review" , so anything recorded to actual film is fair game I guess.

christine

01-24-10, 05:25 PM

I've been reading and enjoying your reviews of films Dog Star Man, most of which I've never seen but I have seen and liked Battleship Potemkin. Never having been a film student or really having much of an education, I was wondering if you could explain what this means
"To this day Potemkin is studied in a wide range of film schools and film studies classes world wide.Perhaps the most important reason for this is the assumption of dialectical montage whereby thesis and anti-thesis create synthesis, which in turn creates the new thesis and onward"

thanks :)

Dog Star Man

01-24-10, 06:31 PM

No problem Christine:

How dialectical montage works is again "thesis" + "anti-thesis" = "synthesis/new thesis" + "anti-thesis", etc.

So take into account the Odessa Step Sequence:

Soldiers appear + Woman screaming = Opression

Opression + Mass decent down stairs = Suppression against revolt

Suppression against revolt + Gun fire = Loss of unity

Etc.

It is a way of looking at things in which a force, (thesis), collides with counter-force, (anti-thesis), to create a mental phenomenon. That's pretty much it in a nutshell. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to answer them.

Dog Star Man

06-29-10, 08:09 AM

Danger: Diabolik!(1968)

http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/diabolik2.jpg

Over the past month I've been going over the oeuvre of Mario Bava. Some of his work escapes me, such as his venture into spaghetti western territory with Roy Colt and Winchester Jack; still it should be noted all the same that he put himself in such a wide range of genres such as sword and sandal epics, spaghetti westerns, horror flicks, (in fact practically being one of the sole innovator behind giallo flicks like Bay of Blood which would influence American slasher movies like Friday the 13th), science fiction, even soft-core "pornography" films. His range is something to be admired in my eyes, and while some of these extensions of himself may limit him in some regards; more often than not he'll pull off something decent, if not mildly entertaining, as the end result. To say the least, I have been surprised by this film maker on more than one occasion; and Danger: Diabolik! left me screaming, laughing, and in general, having a fun time at the movies.

Danger: Diabolik! is a mix between Bond, Batman, Lupin the III, with a chaser of LSD-influence 60's counterculture. Based on a popular series of Italian comic books, Bava holds nothing back except a budget, (which in reality one could say quite the opposite upon looking at the film itself). Comic-book thievery, comic-book violence, and overall comic-book aesthetics, (with Bava at the helm), make this film into instant "pop art". It's entertaining on one level, very entertaining actually, and for that reason alone the film has merit; however, in "pop art" it achieves the kind of visual merit of a renowned comic-book artist as Robert Crumb, (minus the sexual idiosyncrasies).

In the past, I've laid some heavy films in this thread. So this ought to mix things up a bit. Good, fun, entertainment anyone can enjoy.

I used to do "ratings" in the past, but I think it's safe to say whatever I review I like to a degree, (I don't want to waste my time writing a review for a bad film). So take this as is. This, and from this day forth, whatever is on here is worth my time.

honeykid

06-29-10, 03:46 PM

I liked Danger: Diabolik! but I wanted it ramped up. More camp, more kitch, more 60's, more everything really. It's probably because I went in expecting too much, but whilst I like it, it left me wanting more, but not in a good way.

genesis_pig

12-09-10, 06:25 PM

Most of these are movies that people don't usually review..

I am going to watch all of these by next year.
Sad that you didn't keep this thread going.

Dog Star Man

12-09-10, 06:34 PM

planet news

12-09-10, 06:52 PM

What are the poles of your bipolar? Watching sweet-ass films and knowing loads about film history/theory?

*wink*

By the way, I've heard some horror stories about Lithium around my household. Glad it's working out for you though!

genesis_pig

12-09-10, 06:54 PM

All the best. Really love these reviews, even though I haven't read all of them,

Dog Star Man

12-09-10, 07:09 PM

What are the poles of your bipolar? Watching sweet-ass films and knowing loads about film history/theory?

Well when I'm in mania, everything is an inspiration from god. I start receiving messages of "this is how you would(s)..." so for example under a manic faze I discovered how to do a tri-montage, (montage, within montage, within montage). Or I felt a grand force was telling my that there were seven-to-ten dimensions of cinematic pursuit and only the basic two-to-four, (which is pushing it), have been utilized. So I started writing this message out and kept it in a little book of mine. I just think nothing of film, but it goes beyond that, I start thinking I'm a chosen product of God and that external forces are beings which try to get in my way.

When I'm depressed, I sleep all the time, I can't function. I barely eat, I wake up to eat my food, then after I barely eat it I go right back to sleep.

Then the dangerous part of bipolar, a mixed episode. I've had three of these in my life time... the first time I got my Dad's shotgun from under the bed, put it in my mouth, and pulled the trigger... it wasn't loaded, so as I was finding bullets my Dad caught me and took me to the hospital. Another time, I took an overdose of sleeping medications, downed with alcohol, stripped to my underwear, and walked outside to a busy main road at 3am and walked down the middle of it waiting for a car to hit me. I woke up by the side of the road the next day. Then in a milder form of a mixed state, I went into a scalding hot shower with a comb and rubbed the comb up and down my face, creating friction, until my face opened up and I bled all over the bathroom... yeah mixed states are something to be dreaded.

By the way, I've heard some horror stories about Lithium around my household. Glad it's working out for you though!

For the longest time, my doctors didn't want me to go on Lithium, but since my case was so extreme, they felt they had no choice.

Dog Star Man

12-09-10, 07:10 PM

All the best. Really love these reviews, even though I haven't read all of them,

Thank you sir!

nebbit

12-09-10, 07:13 PM

I had to stop for a time, (I hate to admit this, but I don't think people are going to pass judgment on me). I'm bipolar I, which is the worst bipolar you can have. I had a complete bipolar disorder breakdown and was admitted to a mental hospital for a period of time. I was released this year, told to take Lithium, (among other mood stabilizers), and to get out amongst my friends until I could be more "back-on-track"... so most of my time here, and my reviews, where made pre-mental hospitalization. That's the sad story to it all. But the good news to it is that Lithium has completely changed my life around for the better, (well somewhat, I do miss the cosmic-creative bursts, I just have that in milder sense now), and I hope to do some more reviews on here, and on my own website, in the future.
I would never pass judgement on you :kiss: I have been working with people with Mental illness for 40yrs :eek: Lithium is the right choice for Bipolar glad it is helping you :) don't listen to people who try to tell you it is bad :nope: When they get their medical degree then they can have a say but only if their speciality is Mental Health :yup: Glad you are better :kiss:

planet news

12-09-10, 07:14 PM

Well when I'm in mania, everything is an inspiration from god. I start receiving messages of "this is how you would(s)..." so for example under a manic faze I discovered how to do a tri-montage, (montage, within montage, within montage). Or I felt a grand force was telling my that there were seven-to-ten dimensions of cinematic pursuit and only the basic two-to-four, (which is pushing it), have been utilized. So I started writing this message out and kept it in a little book of mine. I just think nothing of film, but it goes beyond that, I start thinking I'm a chosen product of God and that external forces are beings which try to get in my way.sorry if i'm WTFOMGAWESOME!!!!1ing at this paragraph

tri-montage... holy shiiiiiii :cool:

Dog Star Man

12-09-10, 07:15 PM

I would never pass judgement on you :kiss: I have been working with people with Mental illness for 40yrs :eek: Lithium is the right choice for Bipolar glad it is helping you :) don't listen to people who try to tell you it is bad :nope: When they get their medical degree then they can have a say but only if their speciality is Mental Health :yup: Glad you are better :kiss:

Thank you!

nebbit

12-09-10, 07:16 PM

By the way, I've heard some horror stories about Lithium around my household.
All drugs have side effects even Herbal ones :rolleyes: just because it doesn't work for one person doesn't mean its bad :nope:

Gunny

12-09-10, 08:00 PM

Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! was a great exploitation film. Cult classic. I watch it once or twice a year.

Plus, Lori Williams was SOOOO fine. Total babe.

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2005/12/13/pt_fpkk_1412_narrowweb__300x438.jpg

Dog Star Man

12-09-10, 08:05 PM

Gunny

12-10-10, 03:05 AM

Dog Star, did you like Meyer's other famous exploitation movie, Supervixens? Not as good as Faster Pussycat Kill Kill but still pretty good. A cult classic.

You should review that one in this thread.

Shari Eubank is proof God is a man.

http://www.moviemail-online.co.uk/images/large/SV-Christy1.jpg

Dog Star Man

12-21-10, 08:33 PM

The Mechanics of Love

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/13242/2010/03/340x_mechanics_of_love.jpg

The Mechanics of Love has been an enormous influence on my own personal film endeavors, be it practice or in theory. The basic just of the movie is a couple having implied intercourse seen through juxtapositions of sexual themed objects. These ideas however are propelled through visual composition and a dislocated auditory narrative that plays and commentates, through poetry, the thoughts and feelings that the couple shares between one another. This sole aesthetic is a powerful idea with endless possibilities. If visual aesthetic and audio aesthetic and work outside one another but can still maintain symbiosis, a film maker who utilizes this technique to it's highest degree can achieve things that make the "impossible", possible. I will give an example. What is film? What makes it unique in the visual arts? We work within time and space... much like music. However, over music, we also work with music and sound as well. But what happens when we dislodge the linear visuals... the linear audios... and put them together in a different form of cinematic puzzle? The answer is quite simple. A multi-linear film. These are the things that I experiment, with great success, in my production time. The Mechanics of Love is a small step toward multi-linearism. And that is why I consider it to be one of the greatest films ever made.

Harry Lime

12-22-10, 04:56 AM

The Mechanics of Love...one of the greatest films ever made.

I'll have to check it out then, all 5 minutes and 43 seconds that is.

mark f

12-22-10, 05:48 AM

Dog Star Man

12-22-10, 04:31 PM

If it's one of the greatest films, why don't you mention anyone involved in it? Is that because it's a one-off or because it just is? Why should anyone else consider it a great film? I mean, there are many films which do things which others don't attempt very often. What makes this greater than those?

A sly one you are Mark.

I write reviews about films I find attractive, films that influence and inspire me. What is the point of your post when I've clearly tried to illustrate this sole point in practically every review I've written on here thus far. There are many "great" films. I consider this film in the same pantheon as those films, for reasons, which if I may say so myself, I tried/or did illustrate. Frankly, after being gone so long, maybe I'm a tad rusty. But I don't think I am. However, what I will say now is that I don't feel the need to cave to your complaints, or should I say dignify, them with a response or retort. I'm doing this for my own pleasure, fun, and gain. Which you single-handedly, (let's face facts here, this isn't the first time you tried to sabotage my interests in this thread), try to ruin with passive-aggressive thread posts. To each his own I've said, on many accounts, but I honestly don't need to cave, nor should I, to your demands of what a "review" should have when I'm doing this for the sole reasons of "pleasure, fun, and gain". Post here all you want, but I'll make my stand now. It's been made quite clear in this thread and in others you like to be passive-aggressive toward me. So fine. So be it. Post on this thread if you like, I'm not going to stop you. But I'm certainly, not after this, going to bite your bait. I don't want to talk to you. You're not the type of person I feel like I need to be around. I'm a good person, I know I'm a good person. I'm nice to people and treat them as my equals. There are a lot a good people on this board. Very caring, and nice, and I'm not going to let one sour-puss ruin my experience here.

So Adieu Mark man.

Dog Star Man

12-29-10, 08:41 PM

Warrendale

http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/arts/photos/2009/06/15/king-warrendale-392.jpg

Warrendale, to me, has to be one of the finest examples of Direct Cinema being put to use in the most appropriate fashion possible. Direct Cinema was a branch of documentary film making which stated that things must be documented as "truth", and in doing so the act of filming this "truth" you in essence go against the grain and "falsehoods" that arise from normal film making, documentary form or otherwise. Warrendale is about an experimental housing project designed to help mentally challenged or disturbed youth. With the idea of filming this home in the "truest" way possible, Warrendale is a powerhouse film full of emotions, for better or worse, and by all definitions a cry out for the good, human, soul. Having been admitted to similar youth programs myself for my own disorder, this film hit very close to home and at times made me cry for those experiencing the mental anguish I clearly remember from my peers and myself at that age. Things like going into ill-found rages that you don't know where the initiation point stemmed from; the sleepless nights in which waking up seems so hard and dreadful; the feeling of misplaced guilt when a loved one dies; and the notion that, even though you are young, you are advised by doctors to smoke to relieve the mental pains you are in, even though such a thing may kill you down the line. Warrendale sheds light on all these painful subjects, but, though painful as it may be, I think it is truly a humanistic film of monumental proportions. It is a film that tries to alleviate the societal stigma of these terrible ills, and asks humankind not so much for acceptance... rather, I think, tolerance. And tolerance could very well be one of the most beautiful aspects of the human heart. Warrendale is a magnificent film, and I recommend that anyone who wants to open their hearts and minds to the human condition, (as I think we all do), I'm sure you would enjoy this film.

Tyler1

12-30-10, 05:26 AM

I like your movie reviews a lot Dog Star Man ! I've seen you in a couple of movie forums and ive finally tracked you down here! What is it that attracts you to b & w classic movies?

And seeing your review of Faster Pussycat! and tetsuo makes me want to check them out ! Currently, im just working on my top 30 favourite movie list! i think 100 will crack my brains!

nebbit

12-30-10, 06:27 AM

I like your movie reviews a lot Dog Star Man
http://bestsmileys.com/signs16/16.gif
! I've seen you in a couple of movie forums and ive finally tracked you down here!
http://bestsmileys.com/signs12/8.gif

He is one of us now http://bestsmileys.com/friendly/3.gif

Dog Star Man

12-30-10, 09:13 AM

I like your movie reviews a lot Dog Star Man ! I've seen you in a couple of movie forums and ive finally tracked you down here! What is it that attracts you to b & w classic movies?

Yeah, I've settled here for the time being. Which forum did you initially meet me on? (Excuse me for asking, I don't mean to be rude but it's been a while and I don't remember).

As far as attraction to older films, I think it has to do with the fact that much of the Avant-Garde realm is limited to Great Britain now, (not saying there isn't an Avant-Garde elsewhere, but it's much harder to obtain the films in question as they many are limited to college Film Art groups, don't get wide distribution, and many of these Film Art directors move on to more conventional means of film making... which is all fine and good, but there is a desire to see them push the cinematic boundaries with me). Also, I don't much like contemporary cinema, for the most part, because it comes across as a blatant factory manufactured by product with little heart or intellectual concept. Another factor, (with the Tarantino, Noe, Roth, Rodrigez, etc. etc. generations), is that films seems to have become increasingly more nihilistic. Showing things like rape, violence, etc. I don't like it. To me it's a cheap hook to grab the audiences attention, and I personally just can't take that bait. I'm more into things like Romanticism, Love, and Humanism, than anything else.

And seeing your review of Faster Pussycat! and tetsuo makes me want to check them out ! Currently, im just working on my top 30 favourite movie list! i think 100 will crack my brains!

I try to compose a Top 100 films list each year. Seeing as I see more films I haven't seen before, and each year brings something new. Expect to see another films list of that caliber on here soon.

Cheers to you my good mate!

Tyler1

12-31-10, 12:14 AM

I dont remember where i met you b4 lol...

Anyway, i watched Tetsuo : The Iron Man, and i loved it a lot.

Here's my top 30:

1. The 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959)
2. Andrei Rublev (Tarkovsky, 1966)
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
4. Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)
5. The Passion of Joan of arc (Dreyor, 1928)
6. Ugetsu Monogatari (Mizoguchi, 1953)
7. Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979)
8. Playtime (Tati, 1967)
9. Ikiru (Kurosawa, 1952)
10. Au Hasard Balthazar (Bresson, 1966)
11. Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
12. There Will Be Blood (P.T. Anderson, 2007)
13. Dr. Strangelove (Kubrick, 1964)
14. Pickpocket (Bresson, 1959)
15. Come and See (Klimov, 1985)
16. Rashomon (Kurosawa, 1950)
17. The Third Man (Reed, 1949)
18. 12 Angry Men (Lumet, 1957)
19. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Herzog, 1972)
20. The Apu Trilogy (Satyajit Ray, 1955-1959)
21. One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Forman, 1975)
22. Alien (Scott, 1979)
23. The Dark Knight (Noland, 2008)
24. Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958)
25. 3 Colours Trilogy (Kieślowski, 1993-1994)
26. Chinatown (Polanski, 1974)
27. Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
28. Walkabout (Roeg, 1971)
29. Lord of the Rings (Jackson, 2001-2003)
30. Persona (Bergman, 1966)

Dog Star Man

01-07-11, 07:36 AM

Ivan's Childhood

http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/images/films/2006spring/ivan5.jpg

Perhaps my favorite Tarkovsky film, Ivan's Childhood is an anti-war film set in a dream. This film also indicator, in my eyes, to the flawed theory that Bazin and his wunderkind promoted which was the progression of long takes and infinite focus to promote realism, and the ultimate rejections, that for the most part are still held today, against the editorial formulism. Why do I say this? Well for one Tarkovsky utilizes deep focus and long takes to achieve unrealistic motion. A man will walk from a far door, and without a single edit, appear in close up within mere seconds. This type disproportionate motion in the mise-en-scene is anti-realism, it is antithetical to what the realist viewed as purely concrete. Tarkovsky takes their conceptions and puts them on their head, making "realistic" mise-en-scene "unrealistic" and allowing the edit to step in and provide the moments of "realism", cutting slowly, rhythmically, and often placing his edits in "dream" sequences, containing them before they get out of hand. Ivan's Childhood is full of cinematically compelling maneuvers such as this which makes me wonder why it's not looked at more closely. Outside of this notion, Ivan's Childhood is a powerful film because it is an examination of the tolls of war. It's effect on women and children, and the loss of innocence in men, and everyone involved, during their time of service. Ivan is a tragic character, he dreams of his childhood, but they often are cut short, segwaying into nightmare, before he himself wakes up to the nightmare which is the war itself. It is a beautiful film indeed, and one that I think is greatly under appreciated. I also believe this is be best "Entry Level" Tarkovsky film out there. So if there is one people should look at first, this is definitely it.

wintertriangles

01-07-11, 12:29 PM

I still haven't seen that because I'm not huge on war films but now I really want to

Dog Star Man

01-07-11, 12:55 PM

I think you will indeed like this film W.T. I'm not a big fan of war pictures myself as a "category" but if there is a great film which fits within a "category", I'm always all-eyes upon it.

Tyler1

01-07-11, 12:57 PM

I've watched Ivan's Childhood. For me, i will rank it as a mediocre Tarkovsky work. As you know, i would consider Andrei Rublev and his later films to be better ;)

Anyway, i think the ending scene of Ivan's Childhood is simply brilliant though. (where ivan was running on water)

Dog Star Man

01-08-11, 10:34 AM

Rashomon

http://nighthawknews.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/rashomon1.jpg

Perhaps Kurosawa's most theoretically, and artistically, ambitious production; Rashomon visually illustrates the relativity of reality. How it achieves this is actually very mathematical, and I like to view it as such. In my reviews I often like to avoid talking about the stereotypical, "The story is...", "The actors are...", "It was good/bad because..." This is something I'm wholly uninterested in. When I watch films, my perspective is usually one of technique, theory, and composition. Most everything else gets put on the side lines more or less. Though I will mention that Rashomon takes a reality, a constant if you will, and the stories of four different people provide completely different perspectives, they are the variables, on how the constant, reality, came to be. As I mentioned before, Rashomon is a very mathematical film in a sense, and if I will indulge, I most definitely will. The effect that came to be known as the "Rashomon Effect", and the subjectivities of visual perception championed in the film, is one, in this film seen as the ultimate truth, is one based on juxtapositions between variables. These visual variables, characters, are positives-negatives which are juxtaposed with other positive-negatives, ultimately concluding to the central constant which is a metaphorical "zero". It is neither a positive or negative, it is the only existing fact, or reality, we have. In thinking about this, Rashomon poses, to me, a very interesting proposition which ultimately asks the question, "How does one achieve the effect without the juxtaposition of these variables." I've been thinking about it for awhile now, and I'm making my way up the mathematical ladder into Differential Equations to expand my mind on such cinematic theorems. But until that time, Rashomon represents, to me anyway, one of cinema's most intriguing films, and I imagine it will continue to inspire and thrill many audiences alike for years to come.

wintertriangles

01-08-11, 12:02 PM

In my reviews I often like to avoid talking about the stereotypical, "The story is...", "The actors are...", "It was good/bad because..." This is something I'm wholly uninterested in. When I watch films, my perspective is usually one of technique, theory, and composition. I think many reviews get lost in those things so it's good that you realize its not necessarily what it's about that makes it watchable or not. I haven't seen Rashomon in like a year, need to change that.

Tyler1

01-08-11, 12:07 PM

:D my second favourite Kurosawa film, behind Ikiru !

Dog Star Man

01-08-11, 12:46 PM

:D my second favourite Kurosawa film, behind Ikiru !

You and me are on the same page my friend.

nebbit

01-08-11, 07:03 PM

Nice review Star :yup: thanks :)

Dog Star Man

02-01-11, 05:00 AM

Posted on my site, enjoy:

CAMera Reviews

http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww333/coltamoore/Craig%20Baldwin/RocketKitKongoKit.jpg

RocketKitKongoKit
Director: Craig Baldwin, (1986)

RocketKitKongoKit, much like its predecessor Wild Gunman, is a visual collage turned essay on the American neo-imperialist involvement in Africa. Baldwin once again utilizes montage at its finest to illustrate a bitter-sweet point of human absurdity of War in the Congo. To be specific, Zaire, where the indoctrination and overthrow of a democratic society becomes the ultimate catalyst of the end of human civilization through the mass launch of nuclear armaments. Of course, in reality this launch never occurs. Though nonetheless, Baldwin sets the stage for the tribulation which occurs in Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America, (1992). At which the point becomes ever so clear that humanity is doomed through the failures of typical human quarrel. The result there is the extinction of the planet, the result here in RocketKitKongoKit is the extinction of our species. Setting stage in five parts, the lines between fiction, and non-fiction become blurred. Especially towards the films end. As the parts press onward toward their final conclusion, Baldwin utilizes more, and more, sporatic editing; picking up the pace of both image montage and auditory narrative, mixed with vague, if not entirely irrelevant, imagery to portray a sense of the chaotic as the film reaches its ultimate conclusion. Much of these style choices are seen throughout Baldwin's work, and would be especially seen in Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America, (1992), and beyond. Once again, Baldwin becomes the Grand Master of the subliminal through the usage of montage and stock footage. Once again, the Grand Master illustrates through the screen the power of the edit and its implications on what may be seen as "useless" mise-en-scene. Here in Baldwin, the ideals and triumphs of the Formulists live on.

Dog Star Man

02-01-11, 07:21 PM

Also posted at my site:

CAMera Reviews

http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww333/coltamoore/Craig%20Baldwin/Tribulation99AlienAnomaliesUnderAmerica-1.jpg

Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America
Director: Craig Baldwin, (1992)

Though I have yet to indulge in Baldwin's most recent work Mock Up On Mu, (2008), Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America resonates as his finest work with me. In Tribulation 99, it becomes clear that Baldwin has a firm grasp on his, as he puts it, "prank documentaries". Here in Tribulation, the lines become even more blurred. In the commentary on the film, he likes to state that the film takes the position of, "fake right, go left". What Baldwin means by this is simple, Baldwin himself throughout his life has been a political activist; and more or less in his own words he has stated that his films, which ferment with political drive, this same political agenda provides a layer to which the films could not exist without. Watching Tribulation 99 is like watching a 50 minute extension on final part of RocketKitKongoKit, (1986). Here the editing is extremely fast; the montage of images chosen more or less make sense on the whole to portray the immediate sense of the chaotic, while the auditory narration fluctuates in apocalyptic intensity. As Baldwin puts it, "The sum ultimately becomes much larger than the whole of the parts," once again illustrating the power of cinematic montage. Unlike Eisenstein and much of Baldwin's Soviet predecessors, Baldwin here in Tribulation seems to take the role of a paranoid schizophrenic. The ideals and events occurring in Tribulation 99 have more or less happened. But they all become fantastical conspiracy theories. Assassination attempts on Fidel Castro are thwarted because it becomes clear in the narrators mind that, "you cannot kill someone who is not alive". Tribulation is all at once jarring and humorous, this is perhaps the most advantageous and rewarding aesthetic about the film. The film becomes a question of killing you through black humor, which ultimately coats the pill of this final "tribulation". Baldwin's work continues to amaze though shock and awe, perhaps through one of the most innovative means on the film medium as I presently know it.

Dog Star Man

02-02-11, 07:00 AM

I'm going through Baldwin's oeuvre on my website, I hope you enjoy these:

CAMera Reviews

http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww333/coltamoore/Craig%20Baldwin/SonicOutlaws.jpg

Sonic Outlaws
Director: Craig Baldwin, (1995)

When approaching Sonic Outlaws, I find it very atypical from the rest of Baldwin's oeuvre. Here in Sonic Outlaws, Baldwin doesn't hide behind the cinematic collage he uses to create visual-political points. Instead he dissects the very nature of his chosen art style. This may sound as a masturbatory introspection into ones self. However, this is far from the point and illustrated fact. The film is about a "culture jamming" musical group, Negativland, who utilized material from the now famous group, U2, and was sued into oblivion in the process. The film uses their story beckon to illustrate other movements throughout history that share similar plight. Art movements that date back to the 19th Century, to the Dada and Surrealist movements in the early 20th Century, which have lead to the very style that Baldwin espouses which is cinematic Situationalism; using the most radical forms of reworked plagiarism to illustrate in return the most radical forms of political commentary. He investigates other Situationalist "culture jammers" which are more-or-less artistic, but perhaps through their own virtue are more politically motivated to use the mundane to make their statements. The people in question are those such as the Barbie Liberation Organization, which switches G.I. Joe and Barbie audio voice boxes to illustrate the enforcement of gender roles on society. Other "culture jammers" are more pictorial to portray their political messages on society. Such as an underground group which tampers, and reworks, to display blatant political-subliminal messages within billboard posters across city streets. To boil it all down into a cohesive whole, Baldwin is commentating on a few things; the style of his fellow artists who take up his flag, the political introspection and questioning of the capitalistic-copyright system, the history of art and how it pertains to this system and its artists, and of course, an introspection through introspection, a view into the very nature of his own art style. Sonic Outlaws also seems much different to me in tonality. Perhaps in Baldwins other films, he was being playful, and though he doesn't like to be called "experimental", his prior films were very much so in a sense more "experimental". Here there seems to be no image wasted with the intent on creating a emotional reaction. Here, each shot pertains to the complete meaning of the thesis in question. It would seem the work has more so of a political drive than his other works, and this is probably due to the introspective nature of the work he himself is investigating. Whatever the case may be, Baldwin's film is a powerhouse of socio-political thought, and at one glance deserves discussion in its own right.

wintertriangles

02-03-11, 12:23 AM

@Woman In The Dunes

Rather good review, though I wonder if there is a dual meaning in the overall idea. If the man accepts his place, he will survive with someone he can "love". However, I also look at it from this perspective. If the man does not evoke change for himself, he will be trapped in his hole forever.

linespalsy

02-03-11, 01:39 AM

Do you think he can love her? I don't know, I'd be interested in hearing why you think so. My impression (which I could be confusing with the novel, since I re-read it more recently than the last time I saw the movie) is that the dillemma is that he's trapped with a woman who is frustratingly difficult to place and emotionless (though perhaps in a more particular and peculiar way than a stereotypical "women: can't live with em, can't live without em" statement.)

As for the movie, I agree with DSM to the extent that the main character's life is pretty anonymous and meaningless, but I'm not sure if that's an intended focus or that the focus is on the man's identity or quest for meaning. When I think about moments with the most anxiety for the man, they all seem to be fairly realistic and immediate ones (when he realizes he's trapped, when he tries to escape and gets caught in quicksand...) rather than based in some sort of existential malaise. Actually if you read the novel it's quite funny in that his thoughts are incredibly frivilous and unselfconscious up until the moment he realizes he's stuck. On the other hand, the author/director do seem somewhat interested in speculating about the general human condition, I don't remember about the movie but the novel opens with a line to the effect of "without the risk of punishment, there is no joy in flight", which seems to sum up the ending of the movie pretty nicely.

Anyway, I agree with you both that it's an awesome movie.

Dog Star Man

02-26-11, 08:54 PM

Another review posted at my site, enjoy!:

CAMera Reviews

http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww333/coltamoore/Craig%20Baldwin/SpectersoftheSpectrum.jpg

Spectres of the Spectrum
Director: Craig Baldwin, (1999)

Viewing the majority of Baldwin's oeuvre, there seems to be an outlying pattern that emerges; more-or-less in sequence to itself, however, I find that it still exists nonetheless. If RocketKitKongoKit was act one to the doomsday of its second act Tribulation 99, then act three would most certainly have to be its posthumous reflection on the post-apocalypse in Spectres of the Spectrum. In the world of Spectres, all forms of viable communications and energy have been privatized, and in the process, they have created a mutant world where few survive and those that do live off of "shopping malls and theme parks". Much like other Baldwin works, his films drive at a political agenda through the use of humor. However, what seems different about this work, is that it is a cinematic fusion of documentary and narrative film making with its apex in Situationalism and Dada. As I mentioned before about Tribulation being the second act to this sort of series, Spectres rises right out of the year 1999. In it, Craig Baldwin reviews to a much greater degree on the events that had led up to the beginnings, middles, and the ends, of the end. If Tribulation was at all linear in its handling of the subject, Baldwin puts this film as a "time travel" film. With narrative elements coming and going from different epochs in time leading to the post-apocalypse. It is, as I mentioned, a reflection on the post-apocalypse. Here Baldwin tries to make sense, and perhaps, come to terms as an artist on what he perceives as the ends of his political and artistic beliefs. Baldwin holds public domain in high regard, his films in more than one way reflect this, and in due course, the privatization of his life and art style becomes a threat on holy ground. Baldwin describes that this is perhaps why his latest films have a sort of "kamikaze" feel to them, especially in their conclusions, and this film is no exception. In format, Spectres is perhaps one of the most ambitious projects for Baldwin, with the precursor to this style being ¡O No Coronado!, while I have yet to indulge in this film. It is clear that Baldwin is comfortable with this integration of styles and concepts mentioned. Staying true to what he knows, but getting outside his comfort zone enough to produce new and profound art, Baldwin edits seamlessly the elements of found footage and filmed footage to create a synthesis of socio-political fervor within the spectator of the film. Baldwin is a true originator of his form, and I very much look forward to seeing Mock Up On Mu and other future projects.

Dog Star Man

02-27-11, 07:43 AM

CAMera Reviews

http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww333/coltamoore/Craig%20Baldwin/MockUpOnMu.jpg

Mock Up on Mu
Director: Craig Baldwin, (2008)

After witnessing Baldwin's latest project, I am convinced without any shadow of a doubt that he has transcended his very format. I believe that any true artist aspires to reach for higher stars, ascension from those that inspired, and yes, at last, ascension for your very self. Kubrick himself at once realized this once he filmed a homage to himself with the insertion of a 2001: A Space Odyssey LP in A Clockwork Orange. Baldwin doesn't present this sort of homage, perhaps out of more humility; however, the sort of collage-based Situationalism and Dada art, combined with an almost lucid self-filmed narrative format which he had explored to degrees in Coronado and Spectres seems to have come to its most mature in Mock Up on Mu. I had posted a YouTube link above of Baldwin's own "rantings" on the project. He had stated it was an almost puppetry, and indeed it is, on many levels. It is a form of puppetry in self-made history; it is a form of puppetry in narrative characters who profess themselves to be famous, (and infamous), people in our own history; and it is a form of puppetry via voice-over narration over said characters. Mock Up would at least seem to be Baldwin's most accessible works, though it is jarring in how it presents itself to the audience, (by referencing key characters though different montage elements and almost vague mise-en-scene relationships), Baldwin manages to make these elements and relationships more palatable, rather than as chaotic as say his precursor works. What also seems to be at the heart of this film is a sense of optimism, which was lacking in his preexisting films. The film ends on the note that "love" could indeed triumph over the evils that man wrought upon itself. The film is also quite different and atypical of Baldwin in as much as the fact that this is a computer edited film, Final Cut to be precise, and it is quite apparent. But rather than having it be a drawback to the film itself, it provides the film charm, and respectability. It would seem at once that the film becomes more "Underground" as Baldwin likes to profess himself. The film is divided into thirteen segments, each segment proclaiming to the audience who the key players are of the section in question. A profound idea indeed, which keeps the audience at pace with Baldwin's fanatic, and chaotic, sense of collage and filmed footage. Though I still attest that Tribulation is Baldwin's finest work. It would now seem hard to categorize, as the film maker himself has matured to such a degree that any comparison between the young and the old is perhaps a fruitless endeavor in and of itself. I have enjoyed watching this man blossom into the film maker he has currently become, I shall hope that his future projects continue to shed a brighter and brighter light upon the cinematic society.

nebbit

03-02-11, 02:10 AM

Thanks Doggie :)

Justin

03-14-11, 12:27 PM

Nice reviews, especially Woman in the Dunes. One of the best films ever.

Also, I'll have to check out some of Craig Baldwin's work. Sounds interesting.

humpakistani

03-24-11, 02:23 AM

this review clear shows that it will be a hit movie but unfortunately i have not watch it

mark f

06-18-11, 12:48 AM

Perhaps you would like to contribute to our MoFo Movie Club Discussion of Days of Heaven here (http://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?t=25135).

Dog Star Man

07-04-11, 03:11 AM

Lights

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq-DhTtpgY0

"Before Brakhage became the word, there was Menken"

In American cinema, the patriarch dominated and moved mainstream cinema... but in it's underground, a matriarch held the power. The American avant-garde would not have existed without the likes of Maya Deren; and before Brakhage could create the chasm, as Brian Frye would put it, between the realms of mainstream and avant-garde, he would not be able to budge had it not been for the experimental efforts of Marie Menken. Marie Menken looked at film in different terms, she saw film as a "individual"-collection of cells, (frames), rather than a "collective"-collection of cells, (frames), that would make the whole more abstract, more challenging, and much more artistically beautiful. When she made a film, such as this one, Lights, she would create the film, expose it, then look at the film stock itself, what she had exposed, as if that itself was the true art. Her student, her prodigy, Brakhage, came to think in these terms as well. Soon giving up his work in films like Interim to expand upon her work, more than she, or anyone, could have thought possible. But this review is not about him, the review is about Menken, about Lights. If we look at Lights in the context of the "individual"-collection, it becomes easy to see why such a film becomes more visually-abstract, but retains it's beauty. The film soon becomes a document of "lights" in a celebratory space and time. Here the characters are removed, (the people), but what remains is their subject, (the lights), and what becomes a cinematic dance surrounding their nature. It is truly one of Menken's finest films, though she has several. Menken will remain one of the great visionaries of the American avant-garde, and her techniques would give birth to greater film experiments, however aware or not, is still impressive.

Dog Star Man

07-05-11, 12:16 AM

Crime Wave

http://i53.tinypic.com/2d8lzqc.jpg

"A foreign perspective on the American underbelly."

It is no secret that when Fascism was taking its hold in Europe, many film makers committed self-exile and came to America to continue their carriers in the motion picture business. With them, they brought old UFA Studios aesthetics and styles and helped formulate Film Noir. But this is not the only flavor they brought to America, no, they came to America looking at its characteristics from an outsiders perceptive. Frank Capra came to America and saw the beauty that lied within it. To him, America was a flawed masterpiece, it came with baggage that it was always somehow able to overcome. But in the cinematic works of Fritz Lang and de Toth, it was something different. To Lang, America was a place just like every other, and his subject matter usually revolved around people who where doomed to bitter realities. In Clash By Night, Lang has a dim man fall in love with the wrong woman, much could be the said of Scarlet Steet. But de Toth's perspective was that everyone was a sinner, and in America, there was no room for redemption. No second chances, reform didn't matter in America, according to our code, once a sinner, always a sinner. That's exactly the premise in Crime Wave. To me, Crime Wave is one of the most brutal and hard to watch Noirs from the classical era. Here they've come to a point at which they technologically have light weight and portable camera equipment, thus giving the film a very gritty motif, but what drives this painted canvas to hell is its subject matter. The idea that no matter how hard you attempt to reform in this gritty-hyper-real world, you will never escape your past. I provided a picture of a phone above, is it the call to your freedom? Or demise? Should you answer knowing it's either one or the other? Are you willing to put a 50/50 chance on fate? This is what America boils down to to de Toth. And it is that 50/50 we ascertain from our foreign innovators, Capra saw our freedom, de Toth and others, saw our demise.

Dog Star Man

07-12-20, 09:19 PM

The Tree of Life

https://nofilmschool.com/sites/default/files/styles/facebook/public/tree_of_life_-_terrence_malick_0.jpg?itok=9YiqOMG-

(It Contains Spoilers)

To begin a review of a film such as this, I think it’s imperative to stress and reiterate the premise of the film which occurs within the first five minutes of The Tree of Life...

(Premise)

“The film opens with the sounds of waves gently cresting and an opening of Job 38:4,7:
‘Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?... When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?’

Waves continue cresting and a man (Jack) speaks:
‘Brother. Mother. It was they who led me to your door.’ (Who this ‘they’ was seems to refer to angels seen at the end of the film).

Seagulls squawk, and choir music begins.

A girl looks out a window, (the Mother as a young girl) and her narration saying:
‘The nuns taught us there are two ways through life, the way of nature and the way of grace.’ There are shots of her holding animals, shots of clouds in the sky, shots of sunflowers, (which will become relevant later on to illustrate Grace).

‘You’ll have to choose which one you’ll follow,’ she adds. ‘Grace doesn’t try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries.’

Cut to her now as a Mother of three young boys.

Cut to the Father of her children.
‘Nature only wants to please itself,’ she goes on to say. ‘Gets others to please it too. Likes to Lord it over them. To have its own way.’
Cut now to the eldest son Jack.
‘It finds reasons to be unhappy. When all the world is shining around it and love is smiling through all things.’

She goes on:
‘They taught us that no one who loves the way of grace ever comes to a bad end.’
‘I will be true to you...’ (God) ‘... whatever comes.’”

(End Premise)

Once you have a good understanding of the premise of the film, the film becomes much more “readable” and thereby easier to enjoy.

The Tree of Life is, indeed, a difficult read: As much of Terrence Malick’s works are about “reading between visual and auditory lines.”

Some expressions in the visual are undercut, left to semi-ambiguity. As are the key voice-overs, (which are his films primary form of narration). An example of auditory understatement is in the premise when Jack states: “It was they who led me to your door.” Referring to the angels and God who lead him to the way of Grace at the end of the film. Other visual understatements would be the blue candle Jack lights at the beginning of the film. This is significant because the candle represents a prayer and the film is about an answer to this prayer.

Still others are not so obvious— Job 38:4,7: which brings home an entire 20-to-30-minute sequence about the birth of the universe, the earth, evolution dating back to pre-and-around the Jurassic era, and finally a honing into a family living in Texas.

With all this stated, how does one decode this film? Always fall back on the premise.

The premise is about Job 38:4,7. About man’s inability to comprehend the nature of God. Stated in the opening quote: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?... When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
The premise is also about a microcosm of the nature of Grace, and the nature of Nature. Stated in: “Grace doesn’t try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries.” and “Nature only wants to please itself. Gets others to please it too. Likes to Lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy. When all the world is shining around it and love is smiling through all things.”

Much of The Tree of Life is about a dualism.

A dualism between key premises. (About man's inability to comprehend the 'nature' of God but being able to 'see' Him through a glass darkly through 'Grace').
A dualism between the Mother, (representing Grace), trying to stay true to God, (and Grace), when she loses her second son, (R.L.). And Jack (representing Nature), trying to find his way back to Grace when his life has led him astray.
And a dualism between Mother, (again, representing Grace), and Father, (representing Nature).

-----

Now with this illustrated: I am hesitant as a reviewer to say anymore when it comes to "decoding" this film, but hopefully I've provided some sort of "Rosetta Stone."

Keep in mind, sometimes audio- visual “answers” will come before their “questions.” In which case bookmark them within your mind and trust those questions will come—because they do.

If you need a repeat viewing, it’s encouraged—and most certainly worth your while.

The Tree of Life is, though, a work of “high-art” cinema. It won the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 and is seen by many, (including myself), to be Terrence Malick’s highest achievement.

Malick “auteur”-style is voice-over, often “slightly indirect” voice-over, and disruptions between time and space. (An example within this film is the birth of the universe and evolution, to a family in Waco, Texas. To the mother as a young girl, to her as an adult with children, to her own son as an adult. Or jump-cutting between time and space—meaning there is a very apparent disruption within visual/audio-spatial “frame time”).

I do hope you go and see this film. It is quite an achievement and one of my personal favorite films. May it bless you as it has blessed me.

My Rating
5/5

Dog Star Man

07-15-20, 05:58 AM

The Passion of Joan of Arc

https://filmforum.org/do-not-enter-or-modify-or-erase/client-uploads/large/_1000w/PASSION-OF-JOAN2050.jpg

The Blending of European Art Movements

The Passion can be seen as a combination of many European movements and styles, mainly:

1. German Expressionism – A movement which focused on abstractions in the mise-en-scene, (what you see within the frame). In The Passion, this is seen represented by close ups of faces, (often times in extreme close ups), which is intended to show the “personal” and often “confrontational” nature of Joan’s trial. Sets were also built for this film, nothing was shot on location. As par for the course with German Expressionist set designers, sets are often created with fair amount of distortion often to illustrate an external reality of a character’s internal psychology. And, as for the torture room sequence for example, what seems to be more important in this sequence is the abstractions and silhouettes of hooks and chains than the actual use of them themselves. Again, what is important to the German Expressionists is abstraction. Abstraction takes precedent of most everything else, including the very movement of camera and framing of action—edited frame to frame.

2. French Impressionism – French Impressionism was concerned with character psychology, often, internal realities made manifest. In a time in the world where the works of Freud were the rage, directors such as Abel Gance and others tried to capitalize on visual subjectivity. In The Passion, Joan is often seen expressing such divine subjectivity. An example of this is seen when there seems to be a cross silhouetted from her cell window to the ground, (only to disappear under the step of one of the priests).

3. Soviet Montage/Soviet Constructivism – The Soviets were the ones to realize that it is not the images themselves that form meaning in our minds. Rather, it is the collision of these images that do. Take for example Sergei Eisenstein’s October, a series of a still shot of a machine gun juxtaposed to a white screen will make the viewer think the machine gun is being fired, when in reality all that is being seen is a machine gun and a white screen. As with The Passion, the torture room sequence uses montage brilliantly to play with our emotions until Joan has passes out and the sequence resolved.

The Director & Auteur Carl Theodor Dreyer

Dreyer was opposed to realism. He didn’t think it was art. Instead, he opted for abstraction and minimalism in his work. An attempted to achieve what he called “psychological realism” which meant going beyond the surfaces of reality and realism, (the conscious mind), and more into the realms of ego, superego, and id. His films often concern character studies rather than importance on narrative advancement and are often spiritual in nature. They concern an immense humanism and the human condition of suffering and grace: mainly for women. In such ways, The Passion is his magnum opus of this.

The Passion of Joan of Arc

The Passion came out around the time The Catholic Church canonized Joan of Arc in 1920. This is important, mainly because Joan was seen as a martyr for France and French suffering and, (after the World War I), she was a Nationalist most could identify with. These sentiments were compounded with these specific art movements as, (with the exception of the Soviet Montage), all of the cinematic art movements coming out of Europe at that time were a direct result of the disillusionment of a World War and having to compete with a polished American product unaffected by the War’s devastation. Therefore, Joan of Arc as the post-World War I film subject—and to be showcased in the way in which it was—was, indeed, very apropos.

Final Thoughts

The Passion proves to be a powerhouse film and is often cited as one of the first real examples of cinematic art. Though it wasn’t a financial success at the time of its released, it’s been critically praised since the silent era. I do so enjoy this film, and I hope, so do you.

My Rating
5/5

Dog Star Man

08-17-20, 07:14 AM

Puce Moment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw31ZAhHkaQ

Kenneth Anger describes his films as a form of "Magick," an "Incantation," as he himself is a believer in the Dark Arts, Aleister Crowley, and the occult.

So it should be no surprise then that his films reflect his own personal beliefs. They are usually about ritual and transcendence thereof. The preparation and consequences. As some of his films reflect, not all transcendence leads to one's personal gain—it can too come at the cost of death, and one's soul.

Here in Puce Moment we have a brief film, (it was a part of an uncompleted project), illustrating his narrative aesthetics rather well. (Albeit the fact that some of his more cinematic aesthetics such as his own theory of montage is missing. In which case, usually the "ritual" montage of his films is slow, smooth, and rhythmic; whereas the "transcendence" is seen more frenetic, chaotic, and usually ending the "transcendence montage" in stillness and a long take when death or attainment has arrived.)

Puce Moment's narrative is a grand example of these aesthetics.

The film starts with the song "Leaving my Old Life Behind." (A musical piece which commentates on the action on screen.) Here we see colorful dresses, (the ritual gowns), come forth to the camera in some undefined space, (dimension?). When finally the puce gown, (often popular in the silent film era), is chosen.

The woman, (wishing to be a silent film star herself), takes the ritual dress, puts on the shoes, and walks to the final ritualistic element to achieve her goal—perfume. The song then abruptly switches to "I am a Hermit," (By the same musical artist, Jonathan Halper), which the primary chorus is "Yes I am a hermit, and, ecstasy's my game." (This chorus again commentates on the action about to take place and is entirely intentional.) After putting this on she become faint. The ritual is taking her.

She lies down on a couch, loses her senses, and the couch is pulled away. She finds herself in a black dimension that seems to move her, (as seen through the lighting), to some other place and time.

She finds herself being sailed onto the rooftop of a Hollywood mansion. Where we are at which point cut to her holding four Borzoi, (a very popular dog breed around the time of silent Hollywood stars), and she proudly walks them off, down the steps of her mansion, into the realms of Hollywood. Her incantation was a success.

Another thing to note here, is this is Anger's first film utilizing the use of color. Things are often in high contrast. Black-blacks, White-whites, and extraordinary vibrance of color. These practices would become a staple for many, (if not all), of his later films featuring the use of color.

It also is said that while his films are indeed "silent films" they are "far" from silent. Many of his films are filled with catchy music that often commentates on the work itself. This aesthetic was the first time to be done by any cinematic artist and can be found influence in many films like American Graffiti, any Martin Scorsese film, (Martin Scorsese admitting huge influence from Anger), or even Quentin Tarantino, (most especially how when the song, "Stuck in the Middle with You" reflects the torture of Mr. Blonde against the police officer.) It can also be said that Kenneth Anger single-handedly created the "music video."

I've provided the YouTube video to this film as I think you may get a better idea of his aesthetic and work. He has been one of my influences for a long time and I hope you enjoy him too.

Dog Star Man

08-19-20, 07:57 AM

Meditation on Violence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MI4j2tWUME

Maya Deren's oeuvre is marked by two distinct aesthetics which would later become two distinct periods of her work. The first, (as established in films like Meshes of the Afternoon and At Land), could be considered feministic. Films about a woman's identity in herself and in the world around her—which is perhaps a hostile world. The second is the aesthetics of motion and movement, and the bending of its potential limitations within (then) current cinematic understanding.

Both of these periods prove to be very rich and very exciting.

Meshes often being cited as a seminal work for the American avant-garde, and perhaps seen by many to be her own masterpiece. But that is not to say that her later films don't live up to the potential of her first "upstart" film. Indeed her films bring a wealth of influential "ideas" and "aesthetics" that would be used by many, many, filmmakers, (both avant-garde and mainstream), for many years to come.

In regards to the second aesthetic, (which is the aesthetics of motion and movement), one might add a stipulation to this aesthetic that it is often combined with the manipulation of space and time.

Meditation on Violence, then, is perhaps the crowning example of this second period.

On first glance one may not be impressed by Meditation on Violence, (in all honesty, on first glance, I didn't enjoy it as much as her other works.) But as I've come to sit with it, and come to it time and again, (and also growing to know its artist more), I have found it has quickly risen in favor with me. Favor enough with me that I now feel it may be her best work of her second period.

Meditation on Violence is deceptive. It is a relatively "easy" read, but within this undemanding nature of itself there is indeed a underlying complexity.

Meditation on Violence is about beauty then violence. Training then war. Life then death. (This can also be referenced within the colors of the film which represent the Eternal Tao. Initially white, then in transition to black and white, then finally black before the "violence/war/death" section.) The film starts with a slow and smooth martial "war dance" seen, (initially), in normal motion. As typical of Deren though, there is no "real" defined space and the edits seem to reflect, (as they most especially do as the film rolls on), that this space seems to "move" from different spaces and different times. How this is actually achieved though is through the very claustrophobia of the images she is indeed shooting. Since one is not "entirely" sure where they are within the spatial-frame, she has more control to manipulate her spatial-temporal surroundings.

The "war dance" then begins to pick up fervor. Drums are added to the soundtrack, and the background no longer indicates "white" but there are now the beginnings of "black." The violence, war, and death phase. At which point in this darkness the martial artist jumps off camera and then we are cut to a completely different spatial and temporal time and place entirely. We are outside, the artist's feet land, (now a solider with sword and full garb), and the "war dance" becomes "the act of war." Eventually he is tossed in the air, a freeze frame, (a death perhaps?) and then the cycle now and the very film itself run backward, (again in reference to the Tao that there perhaps exists rebirth.) With the actions now running backwards, it seems hard to tell—unless you are paying very close attention—if the film is indeed running backwards or forwards. The "act" and "dances" of violence are so smooth and seamless, it becomes rather astonishing, and that's precisely the point. Within this dichotomous world we live in, death brings life. Out of war comes new ways to train, and out of violence comes beauty.

This is the crux of Meditation on Violence.

I was first encouraged to give Meditation another look based off an interview I saw by one of my film idols, Stan Brakhage. Since then, I have not regretted that decision, as I haven't really looked back since I took to watching it again. It's rather a mesmerizing work, and I hope it finds influence and/or at least some enjoyment with all of you as well.

Dog Star Man

08-20-20, 05:21 AM

At Land

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubYt6SrObho

In the United States, Maya Deren was the Founding Mother of the American avant-garde in cinema. The mainstream cinema was subject to a "male dominated" force and no stranger to the infamous "casting couch." In the cinema's underground, however, "vision" held no gender, and if it did at all it may be considered a "feminine vision" with the likes of Maya Deren and Marie Menken.

Deren going on to influence much of what could be seen narratively in cinematic experimentation as well as through motion and temporal-spatial displacement. Menken on the other end viewing films in a "meta" sense. Her idea that the "art of film" lay in the very "strip" of film itself. This later influenced Brakhage himself who would later go on to create a complete chasm in cinematic understanding by disregarding narrative entirely; taking a roll of film out of the camera; exposing the roll of film; then painting on the very fabric of celluloid itself. To say that women have not played an important role in cinema would be a very gross understatement. While there may not be as many female cinematic role-models per se, the one's that do take up the torch most certainly provide a crucial light.

With introduction said, let's analyze At Land

In the briefest terms, At Land is about birth, searching for one's purpose and identity, and finally actualization.

We start the film by a woman, (played by Deren herself), being washed up on shore. This section, albeit a moment in the film's frame time, represents two things as it will be later represented in the end of the film. Birth, firstly, and secondly, who we are in this birth. Our most natural selves without worldly impression.

This woman then climbs a tree, (she is growing up), and she finds herself at a dinner party, crawling on a table, (seemingly fighting a jungle), and still unable to be noticed or respected. Finally, she reaches the end of the table and there is a chess game going on. One of these pieces, (symbolically speaking), represents her "true" self, as it is knocked off the board and begins to fall down a waterfall and down a river. Hopelessly, for a moment, she is unable to retrieve this piece.

She then finds herself on the road of life where she is met by four men, (influences?), in her own life including various artists and finally her husband, Alexander Hammid. While these four men influence her, she is still not herself in the "purist" sense of the word.

We then find her following her husband into a cabin where everything is abandoned and she stares at a man laid out for death. She let's go of a cat, (perhaps at this point making reference that in seeing demise she must go back into serious consideration of taking the journey of discovering herself), and she begins the search again for the chess piece, (again, symbolic of herself.)

She makes her way though rough terrain and dunes, finally landing on another sea shore, (any surprise?), that has two women playing chess together. Eventually, after distracting the two women from playing their game, she grabs the object of her desire, (again, symbolic of herself), and runs away. She runs past all of the old and familiar places we were previously exposed to. Past the women who influence her; past herself who plays a game of collecting rocks/expectations, (personal or external), she will never live up to; past the houses of death and male influences; past society which ignores her existence; and finally, arriving back on shore, where she is free to be the person she was born to be.

End Film.

As usual, Deren plays with motion, (such as the reversing of waves on the beach), and the juxtaposition and displacement of that which is temporal and spatial. In displacement, it is virtually impossible for the viewer to decipher where they are in time, but as a film who's crux is based in symbol and interpretation of those symbols, it is entirely pertinent. In juxtaposition and montage, also symbolic, (as from birth to entering society). Or in other senses, from the very seamlessness of the edits to these spaces from beach to table.

Cinematically speaking, these concepts were as revolutionary then as they are today. Perhaps since many of these aesthetical tropes have been diluted over time and to see them in their original format in their most "base" and "raw" form can be quite jarring albeit exciting.

With this said, I hope I've provided some insight into this work, and I do hope you enjoy it as well. Deren has been quite an influence in my own cinematic life, and, (like most female directors), she needs more exposure. I hope you enjoy her as much as I do.

Dog Star Man

08-20-20, 08:58 AM

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/1TT45HoZ5n6nixK8D6lgAuyjFkxwzRCVvIlAaP6xsssNA2JAVxE3sjCOjGcu7XmO_aub_NKOW13XmHL3GaTICMEMEF7NWSURo-J7uzl_wIzj0Ddtu_sTMHLp9eCQfzGBuYQ

What is New German Cinema?

New German Cinema came out of a signing of a cinematic manifesto in 1962 called “The ‘Oberhausen’ Manifesto” whereby young-aspiring filmmakers proclaimed that, “The old cinema is dead. We believe in a new one.”

This group was heavily influenced by the French New Wave and their directors—who also made similar proclamations and had similar influence in the cinematic arts. The German New Wave’s aim—much like the French—was to create films with a higher artistic and aesthetic purpose. These German films were often politically conscious—often leftist—but also focused on the realities of a past they could never go back to. Germany itself became “a broken home” in more ways than that of East and West divisions—but also, reconciliation of Hitler’s shadow. Hence why many of these films, especially the works of Wim Wenders and Werner Herzog focus on madness’ and crisis’ of identity—of often German men—within the Americas. These films also focus heavily on marginalized groups, alienated youth, and the limitations of democracy and journalistic integrity—all a bi-product of post-World War II fascism.

Werner Herzog, director of Little Dieter Needs to Fly.

Werner Herzog, a name in the German New Wave, often paints an image of people who are troubled and are going through—or have gone through, such as the case of Dieter—very chaotic situations. His films are often about existential crisis’ or madness’, and, these films are often about German influence in the Americas—either in the North or the South Americas. One should often note that these “characters” who “perform” in his films are slightly “unhinged” from inception—prior to coming to the Americas. Such a theme thereby resonates that “home”/Germany is a place of “uncertainty” and “anti-home” a breeding ground for such “madness’.”

Little Dieter Needs to Fly.

Little Dieter Needs to Fly is a post-New German Cinema film, but it’s influence is still there with Herzog as director. In it, we discover a German immigrant who is sent to Vietnam and who becomes a POW only to be rescued months later. The themes within the film are classic Herzog and of the old New German Movement: about people on the mental fringe— (Herzog’s aesthetic)—and German influence in the America’s— (a much larger aesthetic within his own German Movement.)

I hope you find some resonance within this work and body of works; as the works of Fassbinder, Wenders, Herzog, Kluge and others provide quite a fantastical look into a time and place in a nation's history. Going in with such intent alone, I guarantee you won't be disappointed; but for reasons of pure aesthetics and beauty, such things lie therein as well.

You have my cinematic blessings as you transverse.

Dog Star Man

08-21-20, 09:02 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H9ey8L1WOA

Marie Menken and the Act of Seeing for the First Time

I find the best way to truly understand the works of Marie Menken, one must look to her pupil Stan Brakhage. Brakhage wrote a manifesto that would soon describe the works of his "matured" period, but in doing so, he also seems to make reference of what Menken was doing all along:

"Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of 'Green'?"

Stan Brakhage

It could be very easily stated and seen Brakhage's influence through his teacher Marie Menken. Menken concerns herself with movement and the forms which take place and shape within the movement itself. Her films are often disorienting. There are rarely any wide-shots, and if there are wide shots they come reserved. Most of her footage is shot in close-up or extreme-close up. If one wonder's the purpose of all this, it is to take the spectator to a time and place in their consciousness where "logic" wasn't the governing foundation of their "experience," but the "experience" itself formulated their "logic."

This concept was one of the foundations of Modern and Post-Modern Art.

Like it or leave it, Menken attempted to make manifest this proposition. Coming into her films with a "child's eye" one can see the beauty of the world for the first time. Through movement disorientation, through the use of abstract forms therein, and through the use of close-composition; we come to "see again." We come to experience this world with a new sense of wonder.

When we have encountered something enough times, logically we develop a "schema" for those things in our minds. We tend to know where, what, how, and why it is. But if something doesn't fit neatly into a "schema," it become "experiential" and we have to develop new codes and ways and thoughts on how to handle what we are empirically observing. This is precisely the point of both Menken and her prodigy, Stan Brakhage.

All this to be said, she is one of the Founding Mothers of the Cinematic Avant-Garde. Spending much time here, I have come to enjoy, respect, and appreciate her work. And through the use of her compositions, I've come to "see" again.

Dog Star Man

02-01-21, 02:42 PM

Koyaanisqatsi

https://www.winnipegfilmgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/Koyannisquatsi-2.jpg

(Contains Spoilers)

The entire “Qatsi” Trilogy is a feast for the visual senses. It is a body of work devoid of any dialogue — and instead, relies solely upon visual-musical interpretation of the film’s montage.

Though it is in my opinion that the latter films, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi, miss the mark of the initial and inspired first work of the Trilogy, (mostly due to re-statement) — it is truly Koyaanisqatsi which shines an absolute brilliance from beginning to end.

Koyaanisqatsi, (and the “Qatsi” Trilogy in itself), takes its inspiration from a variety of avant-garde and art house cinematic movements that came out of the 1920’s. Primarily Soviet Montage, (and their theories therein), the “City Symphony,” and the experimental narrative.

The 1920’s in particular saw a rise in a variety of art movements. The post-war environment — and a sense of a “new war” on the horizon — gave birth to Surrealism, Dada, Expressionism, Constructivism, and a slew of other expressions felt not only in writing, painting, music — but the cinema as well. These movements from the past have had their influence on films to the present day and some of them — such as the movements and discoveries and theories found in the Soviet Union — have even been essential to understanding the basic grammar, form, and even psychology, of cinema itself.

Where Koyaanisqatsi finds home in these movements are from experimental narrative films like The Life and Death of 9413 a Hollywood Extra:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnAEHFhxuQI

In these particular films, narrative ideas are communicated by abstraction and “symbol,” they also rely heavily on acute visual interpretation — or, (in the case of The Life and Death of 9413 a Hollywood Extra), entirely through the visuals and pantomime.

Koyaanisqatsi also finds influence from a very brief post-war movement called “The City Symphony.” These films were documents of cityscapes often times seen from the vantage points of the city itself. Either on a high-rise, or carried on a large boat to illustrate motion within the frame, the city itself “constructs” all motion and framing and there is an attempt to remove as much “human” influence as possible. Films like Manhatta are illustrations of this movement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qduvk4zu_hs

Both of these movements are Koyaanisqatsi’s “narrative” influence, but in order to truly understand Koyaanisqatsi, it does take some knowledge of the principals of Soviet Montage.

After the Russian Revolution, Lenin thought that propaganda — and in particular, the cinema in this regard — was the most important piece to keeping the proletariat in positions of power. Under him, he assigned a variety of film makers, film theorists, and critics to understand how film “ticked.” Through incessant viewings of D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance they discovered that much of — if not all — of cinematic “interpretation” comes from the “collision” of shots/ideas and not the shots/ideas themselves.

To illustrate, Lev Kuleshov did an experiment whereby there was a single static shot. A man looking toward, but slightly off camera. Then there were three other “shots.” One of a bowl of soup, another of a girl playing with a doll, and another with a woman crying over a coffin. When the shot of the man was juxtaposed to the shot of the bowl of soup, one audience group said he was “hungry.” When juxtaposed to the girl playing with her doll, another audience group said he “longed for his daughter.” And still in the final juxtaposition where the woman was crying over a coffin, another audience said “he is sad over the loss of a loved one.” In each case, the initial static image never changed. Thus, were the beginnings of “montage.”

Most montage, perhaps the most essential of them anyway, is dialectical. Meaning that you have a “Thesis shot/idea” (such as the man staring slightly off screen). Followed by an “Anti-Thesis shot/idea” (such as a bowl of soup). Followed by a “Synthesis/New Thesis shot/idea” of these shots, (such as the man is “hungry” for a bowl of soup.) Where film’s “Art” lies, therein and therefore, is not only “predicting” synthesis interpretation — but an art where the sum of the “whole” is larger than the sum of the “parts.”

With this said, onto my review of Koyaanisqatsi, bearing in mind there will be spoilers.

Koyaanisqatsi opens up with its title and in musical chant of films namesake. This is followed by a shot of Hopi petroglyphs illustrating “people and humanity,” followed by another shot of the Challenger taking off, flames from the rocket taking off, and soon “white out.” This would be the film’s “bookends” to what would be called later in the film “A life out of balance.”

Next we see desert landscapes. This goes on for some time until we see rocks emanating steam, the synthesis here is that we are speaking of evolution and these are “lakes of creation.” Koyaanisqatsi theme is chanted again and now we see a different desert landscape — that of deserts that seem to illustrate human-like fingerprints.

The land now becomes lush and green, and the sun and shadows begins to move on land quickly — a time lapse, perhaps millions of years in the making. Finally, for this beginning segment we see bats — evolution is taking place.

In the films next musical segment storm clouds begin to form, water on the Earth below, there are simply further examples of human and earth evolution. Earth forming humans before humans “form” Earth.

In the next musical segment, it begins with an aerial shot hovering in, closing in on Earth. At last we see human influence, marked by an explosion. Mother Nature no longer transforms the Earth, humans are transforming the landscape with explosions, massive machines and industry. This segment ends with a cutting to weapons of warfare like the nuclear bomb. A final explosion, just as this segment began, only this time weapons of mass destruction transform the landscape.

The next musical segment begins where the former left off. A nuclear power plant by beachside with people sunbathing. Man marvels at his own creation and seems comfortable with it — for the moment. High-rise buildings, airplanes, automobiles and highways, “convenience” and “luxury.” Finally, there is an overhead shot of automotives in a parking lot seguing to a similar scene of a lot of tanks. We become hostile not only to our land, but our fellow man. To protect a “way of life” that gives us these “conveniences” and “luxuries.”

The next musical movement —The city and its urban decay, particularly in its demolition of urban decay. We destroy a foreign way of life outside our borders to protect our “way of life” but when our “way of life” doesn’t work, we destroy it instead of reforming it. The film cuts back to the city — now in fog — as is the nature of humans.

In the next musical movement, we see large buildings dominating the landscape, consuming human life. Humans are in a frenzy to work their lives away — Humans lose identity. Lost in an impossible sea of humanity and business — humans become their vocation — they lose themselves.

In the next musical section. The city landscape is a “grid” where people work their lives night and day. Humans become ants in the face of the corporate — Further losing identity. Humans no longer are humans, humans work more along-side machines and become a “mechanism” in themselves. Humans play games, eat out, watch films and television, go to malls, shop, and other means to drown out a meaningless existence. The music at this point in the film is reminiscent to the music that had humans fascinated in their own creation — “convenience” and “luxury”*— now they are living and eating it, literally. Music picks up and crescendos, as does the pace of the montage —*It becomes humanity out of control.

In the final musical piece musical. We see a high aerial shot of the city. It becomes more like a computer grid with human beings simply being electrical currents. We then cut to actual computer grid.

Taking a closer look below at human life. Humans dissatisfied and disillusioned. Something is wrong. The initial Koyaanisqatsi theme is returning. The landscape that humans have transformed — not nature — is leading to a life of chaos and imbalance. The final shot before the audience see’s the Challenger take off: The Stock Market floor filmed in super-imposition to make humans look like “ghosts” to the frame. This is entirely intentional. As the synthesis to this shot is that the money and greed that humans have so sought after have made them a “ghost” in their own landscape.

Finally, we see the “bookends” again. The Challenger take off. In man’s attempt to explore and conquer a broader landscape — destruction. An end to a hope.

Koyaanisqatsi theme plays again. Back to the petroglyphs of society and description of “Koyaanisqatsi” meaning:

“A life in chaos, a life out of balance, a crazy life, a life in turmoil, a life disintegrating, a state of life that calls for another way of living.”

Plus a Hopi prophecy which seems to allude to the Challenger disaster:

“If we dig precious things from the land, we invite disaster.”

“Near the Day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky.”

“A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans.”

Koyaanisqatsi is a highly astonishing work of art. Again there is no dialogue to speak of, and it’s a work that communicated its ideas through abstraction and symbol and montage. It may be a “hard” read for some, but if I were to choose an introductory art house or avant-garde film to show someone — This would be an easy pick for me.

Hope you enjoyed this review and film dissection. It's an honor to write it for you.