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Reviews
The Tree of Life (2011)
Upgrade to 10
I saw THE TREE OF LIFE twice this summer in cinemas here in Vienna. After watching the film "in intimate circumstances" today on the just-issued DVD I must upgrade my previous 9 rating to TEN.
Upon the third viewing EVERYTHING makes sense: form, drama, rhythm and image are the products of one of the greatest film directors who has ever worked. I experience this film as a product of an uniquely American visionary sensibility, in the tradition of the literature of Whitman, Melville, Thoreau, or Emerson, or the music of Charles Ives.
My only complaint: it was too short. I was ready and practically yearning for another hour.
23rd Psalm Branch: Part I (1967)
Stan Brakhage's war movie: it's worth seeing
During the first few minutes I was somewhat skeptical. Images of atrocities, of the slaughtered, flashed by and I involuntarily thought of a parallel sequence in Derek Jarman's WAR REQUIEM, where the soundtrack-- Benjamin Britten's eponymous work-- provided a wider dimension through its acoustic counterpoint. About 15 minutes in I was totally into Brakhage-- perforated film and fantastically edited images of Hitler and Mussolini set up a powerful purely visual rhythm that needed no sound!
IMDb separates the two parts and "coda" of this film, but I saw it projected as an entirety-- ca. 65 minutes. Early in the second part there was a visually flabby and unconvincing stretch labeled (by hand) as "Peter Kubelka's Vienna"-- a Vienna of the 1960's far drearier than that in which I live today. But Brakhage's images and rhythms picked up again, with motives from the first part recurring. The last of the several painting-and-scratching-on-film sequences was the most lyrical and impressive. A brief "coda"-- festival and fireworks-- was somewhat disorienting and thought-provoking in the sense that it made me want to see the whole film again, from the beginning.
It wasn't as coherent and intense an experience as DOG STAR MAN, but still very much worth seeing.
Prelude: Dog Star Man (1962)
74 challenging, rewarding, and fulfilling minutes
This review refers to the entire film DOG STAR MAN, the Prelude and the four Parts, which I saw several hours ago in the cinema of the Austrian Film Museum in Vienna.
IMDb should condense the five separate units into ONE film item, since this is clearly how the filmmaker intended his work to be viewed. I compose music and after about ten minutes it was clear to me that this work should be experienced and felt as VISUAL MUSIC, a symphony in five movements comparable in length to those of Bruckner or Mahler. I wouldn't have any problem closing my eyes during a 74-minute-long symphony and I had no problem turning off my ears as Stan Brakhage's stunning silent images flooded the screen.
The "visual composer" Brakhage showed himself to be a master in the incredible density of his phrases / images, in their imaginative and suggestive juxtapositions, and in the creation of a clearly imagined and personally experienced global form in five movements, whereby "themes" are introduced, developed, reintroduced and redeveloped in a convincing and existentially rooted manner. And there were SO many memorable images ... right now I'm recalling the man's vertical ascent at the end of Part One, and the introduction of the baby at the beginning of Part Two. The often fluttering editing of the winter scenes in the Colorado Rockies was so sensually intense that I could almost SMELL the surroundings-- an incredible feat for a silent film. The rough spots in the editing were like ... the rough spots in life.
I have seen several other films by Brakhage and admire his existentially demanding films abut birth and autopsy, but DOG STAR MAN tops it all.
My sincere posthumous thanks to Stan Brakhage for the 74 challenging, rewarding, and fulfilling minutes that I spent with this work.
Omnibus: Song of Summer (1968)
perhaps Ken Russell's best film
I recently saw the BFI DVD of this film and was totally blown away. A pity that after this excellent work Ken Russell could have gone on to make such silly films about Tchaikovsky, Liszt, and Mahler. Restraint and extravagance are perfectly balanced here, and the director's communication with the actors was obviously on an incredibly high level. The beautiful black-and-white photography and the generally excellent editing strengthen the film's lyrical but also tough impact.
I compose music myself (orchestra, ensemble, chamber) and even though I had neglected Delius' work for decades I found this to be one of the few films about a composer that MAKES SENSE, in terms of the portrayal of the creative process and of the human being behind the work. A further compliment for Ken Russell: the strong impressions aroused by his film led me to re-examine my relation to Delius' music: recordings and scores of his works have found their way into my workroom.
Ken Russell's masterpiece is probably THE DEVILS (unfortunately and incredibly still not available on integral uncensored DVD); Gothic and ALTERED STATES are certainly worth seeing; but A SONG OF SUMMER has a perfection perhaps unique in his work.
Der Leone Have Sept Cabeças (1970)
certainly not on the level of Godard!
I just saw this film in the cinema of the Austrian Film Museum and have to in one point contradict the reviewer from San Francisco: at least in Vienna, this film was IN COLOR. Theatrical tableaux, sometimes containing strong images, strung together with a generally only mediocre sense for time flow. It sometimes reminded me of the more didactic films of Godard, but often failed to come up to the technical level present even in Godard's most recondite efforts. Now and then I felt I was perhaps getting new insights; in other parts of the film I was just horribly bored and felt the director had little sense of how to effectively shape his material. Certainly no masterpiece, but, at any rate, I did wind up wanting to learn more about Glauber Rocha.