avant-garde, experimental, surreal film

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gay cowboys eat pudding

Mark cuts to the heart of it all.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 5 April 2003 14:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

He watched the same South Park episode as I did last night, the one where the Sundance Festival comes to town. All independent films are summed up that way in it.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 5 April 2003 14:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yus. I larfed like a bonobo when I first saw it years back.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 5 April 2003 15:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm not sure these are experimental enough for this topic, since most of them do retain a narrative structure, but:

Chantal Akerman - "News From Home"
Jean-Luc Godard - "Weekend"
Abbas Kiarostami - "The Wind Will Carry Us"
Andrei Tarkovsky - "Nostalghia"

o. nate (onate), Saturday, 5 April 2003 16:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'll go for Meshes of the Afternoon, and raise you Warhol's Chelsea Girls (if that qualifies). I read about a film once called Pasadena Freeway Stills which consisted of a person's hands putting stills shot from the front of a car as it drove on said freeway, with the speed of the placement of the images increasing until thay were at 24 fps. This sounds like something I'd like, although it probably doesn't qualify as a "great" film.

Also, the treated street car film mentioned above may be Bruce Bailey's (I think that's his name) film Castro Street, which consisted of very colorful images sliding across the screen.

nickn (nickn), Saturday, 5 April 2003 22:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

good movie: "Independence day" It's all one pace and they use cgi effects w/lots of explosions!! all the actors are really attractive and their motivations are simple & easy to understand!!

bad movie: pretty much any experimental film. For example the quay brothers "institute benjementa". It's just too complicated and it's black and white. Which makes it suck. Switching scenes too slowly completely ruins the flow of the story. A nice predictable and simple story line is always better.

Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 5 April 2003 22:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

;)

Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 5 April 2003 22:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

Institute Benjementa is my favourite actually. I really like Tarkovski films as well.

Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 5 April 2003 22:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

http://www.imageforum.co.jp/quay/src/bq-bnj2.jpg

rowr!!

Pashmina (Pashmina), Saturday, 5 April 2003 23:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

Surely Nic Roeg owns this thread from the 'otherworldliness' angle?

N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 5 April 2003 23:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

Don't forget Maya Dern.

Mary (Mary), Sunday, 6 April 2003 21:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

here's some of my favorites who are also part of the avant-garde canon:

resnais mon oncle d'amérique
Luis Bunuel The Phantom of Liberty
debord la société du spectacle
Nagisa Oshima In The Realm Of The Senses
michael snow so is this

Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Sunday, 13 April 2003 10:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

I slept through Benjaminta. I vaguely remember men banging with forks.

Erik, Sunday, 13 April 2003 10:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

one month passes...
Ernie Gehr!

That's the person I was trying to think of in my original post to this thread. The film that features rapidly alternating perspectives from within a hallway. It has been bothering me ever since (particularly as I'd seen the film in question multiple times), and it came to me tonight.

Serene Velocity. Great film. Anyone know this one?

Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 16 May 2003 06:11 (twenty years ago) link

Second vote for Heaven and Earth Magic! Also:

The Nine Lives of Thomas Katz
...where end of the world in coming to London, windows speak and the subway has it's own gods.

Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid
...where the boys from KLF burn a million pounds of their own money. It really happened.

Don't Touch the White Woman!
...where the famous battle between general Custer and the Indians takes place in modern-day Paris. Marcello Mastroianni plays Custer, and Catherine Deneuve is his mistress.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 16 May 2003 06:37 (twenty years ago) link

i agree with whoever said l'age d'or
the bit with the toes is so funny
much better than la chien andalou...

i thought the K foundation thing had been officially discredited now?

arthur woodlouse (arthur woodlouse), Friday, 16 May 2003 09:56 (twenty years ago) link

True Stories!

Matt (Matt), Friday, 16 May 2003 10:02 (twenty years ago) link

i thought the K foundation thing had been officially discredited now?

What do you mean by that? I heard Drummond & Cauty have destroyed all the existing copies of the film, but nothing about it being discredited.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 16 May 2003 10:14 (twenty years ago) link

i heard a rumour/read somewhere - sorry i cannot actually give you the facts because i havent got that kind of memory - that bill drummond had finally admitted it was a hoax

which surprises me. i kind of thought he had gone through with it. seemed like that kind of bloke from his writing. [naive fool that i am]

arthur woodlouse (arthur woodlouse), Friday, 16 May 2003 10:16 (twenty years ago) link

Weren't there a bunch of reporters there to witness it wasn't a hoax? You can see flashes of them in the film. Also, in the viewing I attended there was the guy who shot the film (KLF's roadie, apparently) speaking about it, and he sounded very honest. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean a thing.

Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 16 May 2003 10:26 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...
Are there any DVD compilations of Maya Deren films?

miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Saturday, 2 October 2004 00:26 (nineteen years ago) link

more love for institue benjamenta here.

jed_ (jed), Saturday, 2 October 2004 00:38 (nineteen years ago) link

i wish, miloauckerman!

every once in a while i check amazon..i don't know how to start a request or a waiting list for a release, so all i do is hope..


now, the only maya deren- related dvd out at this point is the excellent documentary "in the mirror with maya deren" on zeitgiest films.

reo, Saturday, 2 October 2004 00:49 (nineteen years ago) link

-The Saddest Music in the World
-Delicatessen
-Fando & Lis
-Decasia

reo, Saturday, 2 October 2004 01:05 (nineteen years ago) link

John Smith - anything, particularly Associations, Slow Glass, Shepherd's Delight, Girl Chewing Gum, or The Black Tower. Fuck it, just volume 1 of the anthology

George Landow - On the Marriage Broker Joke...

Girolamo Savonarola, Sunday, 3 October 2004 12:20 (nineteen years ago) link

i believe that suprn0va.0rg has" meshes in the afternoon" as a torrent

how about "Holy Mountain" by Jodorowsky

You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Sunday, 3 October 2004 12:48 (nineteen years ago) link

John Waters has got to be on this list.

# Hairspray (1988)
# Desperate Living (1977)
# Female Trouble (1974)
# Pink Flamingos (1972)
# Multiple Maniacs (1970)

EComplex (EComplex), Sunday, 3 October 2004 14:57 (nineteen years ago) link

"Holy Mountain" is the ONLY surrealist film you need to see. Esp. the part about the psychedelic shotguns.

Adam Bruneau (oliver8bit), Sunday, 3 October 2004 16:00 (nineteen years ago) link

The BFI disc of L'Age d'Or will have Un Chien Andalou on it

miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 3 October 2004 16:02 (nineteen years ago) link

"I have conquered the Holy Mountain -- horizontally"

The Color of Pomegranates -Sergei Paradjanov

WR Mysteries of the Organism -Dusan Makavejev
Sweet Movie - Dusan Makavejev

(under no circumstances read _any_ plot summary of Sweet Movie before watching the film)

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/33/makavejev.html

All Bunuel after 1960 is worth watching at least once, also don't miss El

(Jon L), Sunday, 3 October 2004 19:51 (nineteen years ago) link

http://www.wayney.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/surreal.htm

found this site looking for a good link for Zulawski's film Possession. have seen about 75% of these, which bodes well for the ones I haven't.

(Jon L), Sunday, 3 October 2004 20:15 (nineteen years ago) link

Troll 2 (seriously).

latebloomer (latebloomer), Sunday, 3 October 2004 22:47 (nineteen years ago) link

all buñuel is watching, period (i haven't seen the two musicals he made when he got to mexico)

i thought this was the thread where one of the noize dudes threw a hissy fit because they thought i criticized a brakhage film, but i guess not

amateur!!!st (amateurist), Sunday, 3 October 2004 22:49 (nineteen years ago) link

WORTH watching

(sorry)

amateur!!!st (amateurist), Sunday, 3 October 2004 22:49 (nineteen years ago) link

the surrealist film page linked a couple of posts back is great (yay places to d/l Un Chien Andalou) but has the worst layout/navigation I've seen in a long time.

miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 3 October 2004 23:29 (nineteen years ago) link

The ICA imprint has some nice films (including Patrick Keiller's "London" and "Robinson In Space" - two of my all time favourites) but a lot of the really great stuff is still only available on PAL VHS.

Tous Les Garcons S'Appellent Little Lord Travolta (nordicskilla), Sunday, 3 October 2004 23:52 (nineteen years ago) link

three years pass...

An Evening w/ Ernie Gehr at NYC MoMA tonight (there were still tix 2 hrs ago).

http://moma.org/calendar/films.php?id=6243

Dr Morbius, Monday, 29 October 2007 20:06 (sixteen years ago) link

Recent obits for Curtis Harrington refer to a series of early underground movies, including one, 'Wormwood Star', featuring the fabulous Marjorie Cameron from 'Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome'.

Anyone seen any of this?

Soukesian, Monday, 29 October 2007 20:30 (sixteen years ago) link

By next year, every expensive uptown arts venue that screens a-g film will be devoted entirely to Ernie Gehr.

C0L1N B..., Monday, 29 October 2007 23:03 (sixteen years ago) link

'Pleasure Dome' is fucking awesome! There's a collection of Kenneth Anger's films (vol. 1, more forthcoming I hope) on DVD now from Fantomas, I got it through Netflix. I liked all five of them on the DVD. Marjorie Cameron was the wife of Jack Parsons, crazy fucking world.

Abbott, Monday, 29 October 2007 23:23 (sixteen years ago) link

Chappaqua, anyone?

ian, Monday, 29 October 2007 23:47 (sixteen years ago) link

Anger v.2 is out.

Gehr was a funny little guy, talking about his friendship w/ Michael Snow: "Then he moved to Canada. And there was no email, it was the '60s! People were living in caves!"

Serene Velocity is hypnotic, for those who aren't susceptible to seizures... Side/Walk/Shuttle might be in my top 3 San Francisco films now.

Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 30 October 2007 13:59 (sixteen years ago) link

pleasure dome is def. my favorite anger

impudent harlot, Tuesday, 30 October 2007 14:44 (sixteen years ago) link

Didn't Jack Parsons claim at one point that Marjorie Cameron wasn't actually human, that she was the magic(k)al result of a ritual that he and L Ron Hubbard had been working?

aldo, Tuesday, 30 October 2007 14:50 (sixteen years ago) link

two years pass...

So, anyone want to talk about structural film? I know virtually nothing about it, but nevertheless assigned myself the task of writing about it.

On that note, I love how This video is a response to Global Swine Flu Cases Close To Pandemic Level

EDB, Saturday, 23 January 2010 02:01 (fourteen years ago) link

five months pass...

I'm kind of amazed at what's on Youtube sometimes. Nothing beats seeing an actual PRINT of the Lipsett though!

Salted gnocchimole (admrl), Wednesday, 30 June 2010 17:02 (thirteen years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_avIZO8DoOs

Salted gnocchimole (admrl), Wednesday, 30 June 2010 17:09 (thirteen years ago) link

:(

Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 28 June 2016 16:51 (seven years ago) link

six months pass...

Straub / Huillet retrospective at UC Berkeley, starts on Jan 26, until May 2017

http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/program/not-reconciled-cinema-straub-huillet

sbahnhof, Monday, 2 January 2017 05:41 (seven years ago) link

three months pass...
three months pass...

Yvonne Rainer recommendations?

https://www.filmlinc.org/series/talking-pictures-the-cinema-of-yvonne-rainer/#films

Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 19 July 2017 19:53 (six years ago) link

Journey from Berlin is all I've seen - can't remember much about it, except thinking it was good.

Would so see Madame X. Ulrike Ottinger is really good.

Have fun!

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 19 July 2017 21:15 (six years ago) link

six months pass...

obit roundup for Paul Clipson

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/5371-the-daily-paul-clipson-1965-2018

ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 7 February 2018 18:24 (six years ago) link

eleven months pass...
one month passes...

re: the straub/huillet discussion upthread, full retro happening in london over the next three months: https://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/en/ver.cfm?fuseaction=events.detail&event_id=21471962&

devvvine, Saturday, 2 March 2019 08:23 (five years ago) link

two weeks pass...
three years pass...

word seems to be spreading that straub has passed

devvvine, Sunday, 20 November 2022 11:41 (one year ago) link

:-(

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 20 November 2022 12:59 (one year ago) link

Straub and Godard In the same year, damm. And Rest in Provocation.

Ward Fowler, Sunday, 20 November 2022 14:00 (one year ago) link

RIP. I saw From the Cloud the the Resistance, Antigone and Machorka-Muff just this year. All amazing, and the first is so singular and strange.

glumdalclitch, Sunday, 20 November 2022 15:58 (one year ago) link

Here's a lovely curated playlist of shorts:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5xOztE613KMOvfW_L5zaa6j3cdLUwO4c

glumdalclitch, Sunday, 20 November 2022 16:07 (one year ago) link

I have more vivid memories of reading Richard Roud's Straub book than the films themselves, intriguing though they were.
I should get around to watching Sicilia!, which James Quant of TIFF was always talking up.

Halfway there but for you, Monday, 21 November 2022 03:56 (one year ago) link

nine months pass...

couple of days left to catch two, imo, unmissable online retrospectives of female experiemntal filmmakers:

ellie epp on ultra dogme: https://ultradogme.com/2023/08/18/ellie-epp/

jun kurosawa on equinox: https://equinox.film

devvvine, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 12:24 (seven months ago) link

👍

xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 12:55 (seven months ago) link


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