The Rain Falls Down on Portlandtown: One Quick Fix

Showing posts with label One Quick Fix. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

1 QUICK FIX #FOUR: WERNER HERZOG'S THE GREAT ECSTASY OF WOODCARVER STEINER (1974)

As far as short films go, this one's pretty lengthy, clocking in at almost 45 minutes in running time. But I'd argue that it's as essential a film as Werner Herzog ever made (okay, a close second after Lessons of Darkness), containing deep ruminations on the mystical and Freudian impulses (the death drive, specifically) often present in his work without being bogged down on a surface level by overly ponderous pronouncements on those subjects.

One can truly enjoy the piece for its base elements: awe-inspiring, slow-motion 16mm cinematography of the greatest (circa the early 1970s) ski-jumper in the world, Walter Steiner, performing his trade, coming within inches of extreme peril each time he competes, as well as complimentary ethereal music by Popol Vuh, and the film's outside-the-box approach to the sports documentary genre.

It's the visual element that's most stunning here. Cinematographer Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein camera work erases all trace of gravity from Steiner's record breaking jumps. I've yet to see anything else captured on film that isolates its subject from standard worldly experiences as effectively as The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner; it's like watching the moon landing, if the astronauts' bodies were substituted for their spacecraft.

Regarding the risk inherent in Steiner's sport: his frustration around the imposed boundaries for his jumps (which he regularly oversteps) mirrors that of the late Formula One racer Ayrton Senna, the subject of last year's must-see documentary Senna. As Steiner jumps further and further, there is little accommodation made by the sporting officials for his safety, placing him in extreme danger if he continues to compete at the full extent of his powers. It's a tension that is transferred to the viewer as Steiner hurtles through space repeatedly throughout the film.

A magnificent documentary that truly pushes the form forward. Sit back and enjoy The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner:

A note: if you're having trouble turning on the subtitles, you may have to view the video directly on YouTube.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

1 QUICK FIX #THREE: ORGANISM

Fans of Koyaanisqatsi (1982) and Baraka (1992) should take note of the groundbreaking, Academy award-winning short film Organism (1975). Made over the course of fifteen years by experimental film director Hilary Harris, the short work pioneered many of the techniques at play in the aforementioned feature-length films.

Harris was given credit for additional cinematography on Koyaanisqatsi and Organism's influence on the post-production stage of that film, as well as the work of just about anyone working with time-lapsed and/or tilt-shifted imagery, looms large.

The film's title refers to its relational meditation based in scale between living organisms and the metropolis that is New York City. Harris intercuts microscopic footage of biological systems at work with moving images of the city as traffic flows through it, electric light replaces natural light and structures are destroyed and replaced, comparing and contrasting the movements in a manner that uncannily unites them.

Here's a short interview about Organism from Hilary Harris' 1979 appearance on "Screening Room" with Robert Gardner:

And, finally, here is Organism in its entirety (you'll need to log into Fandor via Facebook in order to view the entire film--unfortunately the only way it's available on the web):

A dvd compilation of Hilary Harris' films, including Organism, is available for purchase here.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

1 QUICK FIX #TWO: UNE NUIT SUR LE MONT CHAUVE (A NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN)

Back in the late 90s, I caught a glimpse of a fascinating old animation while flipping channels in my cramped, one bedroom apartment in Berkeley, California. The short film was being aired on the local public access channel during a classical music show, due to its use of Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" as its score. It possessed the look of ancient film stock mixed with a technique I'd never seen before; a shadow-filled, fluidly morphing style that, while crude at times, pointed to the stuff of nightmares more effectively than the realistically rendered animation of the now. Basically, it rocked my world for a few minutes...and then it was over.

Because I'd come in halfway through the film, all I had to go on were the two names I'd quickly jotted from the credits: Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker. Keep in mind, this was before YouTube or Wikipedia existed and, though IMDb was around, film information on the web was often incomplete and untrustworthy. Still, I was able to glean a few details from a web search: the short was named Une nuit sur le mont chauve (A Night on Bald Mountain), the animators were married and the mesmerizing technique devised by them was called pinscreen animation; a form of stop-animation that uses a far more complex version of those pin art toys you might remember from childhood.

Almost seven years later, the Unseen Cinema box set was released and I had the chance to see Alexeieff and Parker's work for the second time. It's still mindbogglingly effective in its overall singularity; I've had the chance to see other films by them but, while those were quite impressive, Une nuit sur le mont chauve seems to be the crown jewel of their career together.

So let's get on with it: here is Alexander Alexeieff and Claire Parker's 1933 masterpiece Une nuit sur le mont chauve:

Related links:
1 QUICK FIX #ONE: POWERS OF TEN
1 QUICK FIX #THREE: ORGANISM
1 QUICK FIX #FOUR: THE GREAT ECSTASY OF WOODCARVER STEINER

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Monday, February 27, 2012

1 QUICK FIX #ONE: POWERS OF TEN

Hey all--
Just to mix things up a bit, I thought it'd be fun to start a recurring series of posts highlighting short form films. Not really looking to analyze or review them...just intending for it to be a low-key curatorial sweep through some of my favorites from the past. And I'll probably end up finding some new favorites along the way, too.

As for style, format, etc., I'm not really planning on imposing any rules. Look for the avant-garde to rub shoulders with the strongly narrative or non-fiction to sit side-by-side with popular animation of the past.

Before we begin with the first installment, I wanted to give a quick shout-out to the visual arts blog Fuzzimo, whose free, hi-res 16mm film frame images post is the source material for the 1 Quick Fix image above. Yup, that's the name of the series: 1 Quick Fix. Hope you enjoy it.

I wanted to ease into things with a film that many of you have probably encountered before. Charles and Ray Eames' Powers of Ten. I first saw the film in an elementary school science class (via a 16mm film-strip version). The film's pondering of infinite space blew my mind then and it still wows me to this day. Over time, it's become famous enough to have been paid homage to in an intro segment for The Simpsons, practically the modern equivalent of canonization.

'Nuff said about it. Why don't we just take a look at the film? Here it is, from 1977, Charles & Ray Eames' Powers of Ten:

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