Customer Reviews

Avant-Garde Film: Forms, Themes and Passions (Short Cuts)

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O'Pray does an excellent job here--and it's a daunting task. I had been looking (to no avail) for a text about the avant-garde cinema that is suitable for an undergraduate class that I teach. Finally, here it is!

It is, necessarily perhaps, a bit too sweeping (and thus at times lacking in detail) in its review of experimental films from the '20s to the present. But O'Pray writes in a clear, accessible style, and though he analyzes few of the films at length or in depth, this kind of analysis can be filled in by the instructor's supplementary handouts and by class discussion.

Overall, a highly recommended text for film instructors who teach undergraduate classes in experimental film.

One of the major stumbling blocks for people first starting out on the winding road into the world of avant-garde film, is not so much the films, but the theory. The films are perfectly understandable if one is well versed in the techniques of cinema, in identifying those aspects of film form that oppose the mainstream and therefore can be broadly classified as avant-garde. The films are often playful, a complex game between audience and filmmaker is often played out and generally, to be just able to say what you see is enough to get by in terms of academic study. However most avant-garde filmmakers are not content with putting their theories onto screen, they also put them into print. The writing is a lot more complicated and dare I say it on occasion indecipherable than the films themselves. This is understandable when these artists clearly feel they have a cultural hierarchy to maintain. This makes Michael O'Pray's introduction to the major issues, figures and debates in avant-garde all the more enjoyable. It is accessible and readable and doesn't assume any pre-knowledge of the reader. It sets it stall out as a simple introduction and takes an historical approach to the development of avant-garde film. For those seeking something more deeper and more in depth, this slim tome will offer nothing new, but for film students and the casual reader this is an excellent starting point on this subject.