This is a 3-minute short film from over 50 years ago directed by American filmmaker Jack Smith when he was about 30 years old. I kinda liked the music in here, but this is really the only positive thing I can say. Visually, it was plain annoying and there wasn't anything close to a story or anything memorable in here. I had no clue what the director's intention was. It's like a poor man's Stan Brakhage film and I am not a fan of Brakhage either. So yeah, maybe listen to a good record instead and do not watch this very short movie. It's really a waste of time, even for such a short runtime and I truly hope Smith managed to step thing up in the following years. Not recommended.
4 Reviews
not sure why it's titled this, but it's a fanciful and exciting little trip
Quinoa198414 September 2008
Jack Smith was one of the masters of the underground film-making 'group' in New York city in the early 60s, and this was one of the few films that Smith finished and screened. While nowhere near the notorious nature of Flaming Creatures or the color-grandeur of Normal Love, Scotch Tape is significant because in a 3-minute stretch of time Smith is able to convey a lot of energy and excitement over some footage that is hard to make out. It looks as those there are figures dancing among garbage or something, moving about, maybe even at 16 frames-per-second, and all done to a super catchy swing tune from the 30s.
This is all its really about, to say the least, but what's great about it is that Smith leaves it open: you can see what you will in those dark masses of black and white, the figures, the shaky hand-held camera-work (frankly I wouldn't be surprised if one thought this was the work of a bunch of serial killers hopped up on 10 cups of coffee!) Whatever it is, it's 3 minutes of pure, unbridled mayhem as only Jack Smith could cook up, and this time with far less actual full-blown sex and transvestitism on the screen. I'd almost say it's like a Brakhage short, but this would be a disservice to Smith, one of the weirdest and most anarchic artists ever to come out of anything remotely considered "artsy." Find it if you can (it's somewhere on the web).
This is all its really about, to say the least, but what's great about it is that Smith leaves it open: you can see what you will in those dark masses of black and white, the figures, the shaky hand-held camera-work (frankly I wouldn't be surprised if one thought this was the work of a bunch of serial killers hopped up on 10 cups of coffee!) Whatever it is, it's 3 minutes of pure, unbridled mayhem as only Jack Smith could cook up, and this time with far less actual full-blown sex and transvestitism on the screen. I'd almost say it's like a Brakhage short, but this would be a disservice to Smith, one of the weirdest and most anarchic artists ever to come out of anything remotely considered "artsy." Find it if you can (it's somewhere on the web).
Fantastic social commentary
Pini_S10 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Smith filmed Scotch Tape within the rubbles of what was once San Juan Hill - a mostly African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Puerto Rican community with a vivid art scene - before it had been largely erased due to an urban renewal that engendered what is now known as the Lincoln Center. The film shows several men rummaging through the ruins of San Juan Hill in mostly black and white technique. Careful observation allows us to conclude that at least some of the men portrayed are African-American, which possibly links them to the oppressed community. The men appear to be (sarcastically) dancing about in the rubbles of what might have once been their home which, alongside the cheerful soundtrack, sets the tone for a film that mocks the lightness with which the erasure of San Juan Hill was accepted and puts the observer in the shoes of the privileged, whom the loss of home and displacement of many families simply passed by.
P.s.: The film was entitled Scotch Tape after the piece of scotch tape that had got wedged in the camera gate.
P.s.: The film was entitled Scotch Tape after the piece of scotch tape that had got wedged in the camera gate.
the final images of an art film
mrdonleone18 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Scotch Tape... what does it mean? so we have great music, but this time no one dances on it (like in Flaming Creatures or Chumlum). no, instead we see this guy (I guess Jack Smith himself) moving from the right side of the image to the left, while the camera follows him. Then he goes back again, crawling under something I couldn't really see very good. I still have no idea what I was looking at. I guess it was something like a tree. but suddenly a part of it turns red in this black and white film (like the jacket in Shindler's List), so it can't be a tree.
anyway, the whole image turns yellow, as if a sunbeam would beam on the screen. directly after this beam of light, everything gets colored, but then it turns again into black and white. it reminded me on the works of Stan Brakhage. with that special effect, the movie is over.
but the best part of the movie are the final images, in which letters appear and colors mix into one giant green screen that turns into blue before the film is done.
anyway, the whole image turns yellow, as if a sunbeam would beam on the screen. directly after this beam of light, everything gets colored, but then it turns again into black and white. it reminded me on the works of Stan Brakhage. with that special effect, the movie is over.
but the best part of the movie are the final images, in which letters appear and colors mix into one giant green screen that turns into blue before the film is done.
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