James Broughton's ''The Golden Positions'' is a meditation on and catalog of the human body in all its positions and activities. The "actors", mostly naked, are filmed (largely in sepia) in short sequences against a completely neutral backdrop (from a fixed camera position) with a voice over narration by Broughton, whose comments are echoed in a musical/choral composition. The actors -- men and women, lying, seated, alone, in couples, embracing, dancing, doing gymnastics -- sometimes move and sometimes remain stationary.
Broughton is a master at filming the naked human body (this film has close affinities with his later film ''Erogeny''), and the tangled and intertwined figures in the last sequence of this film are amazing. Broughton's efforts at cataloging the range and diversity of human activities seems to be a constant preoccupation (in his earlier film ''The Bed'' he explores all the uses of the bed). I was less pleased with his occasional penchant for reproducing historical scenes and pictorial imagery ("tableaux vivants"), and Broughton's narration/poetry can be pure zen hippie mush at times, but when Broughton is attentive to the body, he comes close to Merce Cunningham.
Of all the films from this "middle period" on the recently released 3 disc set of his films, this one was the most poetic and satisfying.
Broughton is a master at filming the naked human body (this film has close affinities with his later film ''Erogeny''), and the tangled and intertwined figures in the last sequence of this film are amazing. Broughton's efforts at cataloging the range and diversity of human activities seems to be a constant preoccupation (in his earlier film ''The Bed'' he explores all the uses of the bed). I was less pleased with his occasional penchant for reproducing historical scenes and pictorial imagery ("tableaux vivants"), and Broughton's narration/poetry can be pure zen hippie mush at times, but when Broughton is attentive to the body, he comes close to Merce Cunningham.
Of all the films from this "middle period" on the recently released 3 disc set of his films, this one was the most poetic and satisfying.
