Customer Reviews

By Brakhage: Anthology (The Criterion Collection)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I rented this and watched it carefully over a period of days. Now I'm going to buy it from one place or another. It's one of the few DVDs I'd call essential, for me at least.
To answer the one-star reviewers who thought these films are just "pretentous," "boring," or "huh?," I have this to say. "Meh." If this isn't your type of thing at all, then who cares what you think? I won't bother to read your reviews of Xenakis CDs either. Go back to watching "An Officer and a Gentleman" or something.
One reviewer who had something intelligent to say was miffed at the lack of mid-period Brackage films. That's a good point. I didn't get much of a sense of what he was trying to do in the 70's. There's just two from that decade in the set and it's not enough.
But I disagree with this guy about the value of the later films, which do dominate the second disc. I think that they're all very different and intensely fascinating in different ways. I wouldn't recommend watching more than 5 or 6 in one sitting. But if you watch a few in a dark, completely silent setting (I like my noise-blocking headphones), I think you might find that these are some of the most interesting films you could hope to see. These aren't just random paintings on film strung together. There are specific patterns, colors, shapes and movements that dominate each film, as well as the underlying images on the film, all of which give a definite identity to each one. Looking at some of them a second time after a few days I found myself saying, "Oh yeah, that one!" That wouldn't happen if there wasn't some shape or character to the films.
Dog Star Man, the main item on disc 1, is a great film, and lots of people have thought so, for lots of reasons, for a long while. Not much more to say about that.
In the interviews and comments on the disc, Brakhage can sometimes come across as overly arty, referential, and yes, pretentious. But his films aren't at all. Because in the films Brakhage was putting his considerable talent, insight and energy into what he really knew how to do, making something he hadn't seen before, but wanted to see. That's just real explicative-deleted-by-Amazon art, folks.

Before seeing this anthology, I had never heard of Stan Brakhage. The Criterion Collection did a great service to the experimental film community be releasing 26 of his nearly 400 films. Sadly, he died a few months before this was released and never got a chance to see the finished work. He has been called the Jackson Pollock of filmmakers. Many of his films are hand painted. He would take blank film stock and paint directly on the film.

This release has interviews with Brakhage and audio commentary on selected films. The liner noted contain a description of each film featured.

Disc one contains the following films: "Desistfilm," "Wedlock House: An Intercourse," the "Dog Star Man" quintilogy, and "The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes"

Note that "Wedlock house" contains an explict sex scene and "act of seeing" contains extremely graphic footage of a real autopsy.

Disc two contains the others. "Cat's Cradle,"
"Window Water Baby Moving" (Brakhage filmed the birth of his first child Myrrena. The film has graphic content and may offend some people.)
"Mothlight" (moth wings glued to the film stock)
"Eye Myth" (Brahage's shortest film at 9 seconds)
"The Wold Shadow"
"The Garden of Earthly Delights"
"The Stars are Beautiful"
"Kindering"
"I...Dreaming"
"The Dante Quartet"
"Nightmusic"
"Rage Net"
"Glaze of Cathexis"
"Delicacies of Molton Horror Synapse"
"Untitled (For Marylin"
"Black Ice"
"Study in Color and Black and White"
"Stellar"
"Crack Glass Eulogy"
"Dark Tower"
"Commingled Containers"
"Love Song"

This is a must buy for those interested in some of the most unique films ever made. His widow is still living and many of his other films are available for rental in 16mm format.

This two-disc DVD set contains twenty-six experimental films by Stan Brakhage. The total playing time is approximately two hundred and forty-three minutes. Three short video encounters of the filmmaker are included on disc two, and a 24-page booklet, of supporting documentation by Fred Camper, is supplied in the deluxe DVD case.

Disc one consists of four films, shot mostly before 1964, with Brakhage in his role as a mountain dwelling family man. Here he photographs a drunken party, scenes of himself making love to his wife and uses extended shots of himself as a woodsman chopping logs. The first three films are mostly edited in an abstract manner, with a generous use of multiple exposures. The fourth film, "The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes", is a more literal exploration of the facts surrounding bodily death. It is shot with a sense of reverence and distant objectivity towards the remains of the human body.

Disc two consists mostly of silent films. The first two consist of representational images and deal with both sex and childbirth. Most of the next twenty films were made by hand painting film stock and then using a range of optical printing techniques to achieve an amazing spatial/temporal image sequence variety. The highlight of this set of films is "Untitled ( For Marilyn )" [ 1992 ]. This film intercuts existential poetry, Brakhage's hand film painting techniques and haunting processed photography of a local church.

Much as in the reading of good poetry texts, one should perhaps watch these films a few at a time, in order to savor the nuances available in each work.

The short video "encounters" with the artist suggest, that even with his retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art, Brakhage wonders whether pursuing a life as a filmmaker might be considered to be madness. One can clearly see the wisdom of his life's choice, however, in the act of viewing these captivating experimental films.

I'm reluctant to air my disappointment amongst so many glowing 5-star reviews, but honestly, I felt a little cheated after watching this collection. According to the copy on the back of the box, Brakhage made "nearly 400 films" over the last fifty years. I'm sure more than half of those films were brilliant and fascinating. Unfortunately, this anthology is heavily weighted towards the last fifteen years of Brakhage's career, when he developed an almost unhealthy obsession for abstract painting directly on film stock. These works are, as I said, abstract. They are formless, kinetic, and actually quite fascinating ... for the first 2 minutes. But after that you start to get the feeling that you are watching static. Slight variations in color sheme, speed, and direction of movement do not save these pieces from all looking the same. And 17 of the 26 films in this collection are Brakhage's "painted static." Three would have sufficed, leaving room for more variety of Brakhage's earlier work. I made the mistake of trying to watch disc 2 all in one sitting, and I could not. The painted pieces are hypnotic, and let's face it, BORING. I could not keep my eyes open. I recommend it for insomniacs.

Before you start objecting that I "just don't get" these films: I went to art school, I know all the B.S. that artists use to justify such work, and I don't believe any of it. Artwork should be able to stand on its own, and most of these painted films do not. If you have to explain your art, and make excuses for it, then you have failed in conveying your message, and you have failed aesthetically.

Don't get me wrong. Brakhage was a genius. I actually saw him in person at a festival back in 1996. At my first viewing of "Mothlight," I thought it was brilliant - and I still think so. The first disk of this set is excellent. "Dog Star Man" is unarguably a masterpiece, a true work of genius. "Wedlock House" is fascinating in the way it uses a moving light source to establish a rhythm, to shift instantly from abstract to representational and back again, to separate characters from background, and define action. And of course, the grisly autopsy film "The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes" is compelling not only due to its subject matter, but also the elegant way in which it was shot, and the gradually increasing pace of the editing.

If this had been a single disc, I would have given it 5 stars. But the second disc takes away from my overall impression and I must, unfortunately, give Brakhage a mere 3.

I had no previous experience with Brakhage's work before I bought this 2-disc set and I must say it is difficult viewing. The hand painted films are the most difficult to get through simply because while the colors of the imagery are strikingly beautiful the films themselves are so far removed from the type of narrative film most of us are used to. It takes time to appreciate the painted films as they are more of an acquired taste.

"Mothlight," however, is instantly fascinating. Brakhage glued insect wings and plants onto the film itself and the result is really remarkable. "The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes" is also trying because it consists of thirty minutes of autopsy footage. (I couldn't get through it.) "Wedlock House" is a film with striking use of black and white that depicts Brakhage's tumultuous marriage to his first wife and even includes footage of their lovemaking.

"Window Water Baby Moving" is my favorite film of the collection and perhaps one of my favorite films ever, a beautiful document of the birth of Brakhage's first child. Brakhage's films seem to hark back to the most primal nature of cinema, and this film does so most touchingly by addressing man's inherent curiosity about birth and the creation of life. It is stunning and very moving.

All of the films look superb. Criterion has really done a spectacular job with this collection and the extras are very interesting as well, giving Brakhage himself a chance to comment on almost all of the films individually. By reading other reviews of this work you should be able to tell whether it's something you would be interested in, as it is not for everyone.

It's very easy to pan something as "pretentious" as a knee-jerk reaction to what isn't readily accessible. What amazon patron critics fail to recognize is Brakhage's lack of pretense. These films are not entertaining by any conventional definition. They weren't meant to be. What they are, often literally, is similar to paint on a canvas, only Brakhage painted his film. Most of the films are silent, many are difficult to watch due to the camera work, it's as if the viewer is a fly buzzing around a crazy party, but the films never lack any emotional depth. Some reviewers believe that there is some sort of "model" art film, that all art films are "supposed" to be like. What they again fail to take into account, is that once we believe art is "supposed" to do anything other than what it is doing, we can no longer recognize art. The problem with mainstream is that it demands mindless entertainment, and ignores the vast multitude of possibilities that Brakhage decided to explore. True, these films are not the best, but in their innovation and fearlessness, they rank higher than any of this year's oscar nominees.

If you are a serious film buff, you will want to see this. If you are not, don't waste your time. I can sit through long shows that most people would find tedious (hey, I've watched Wagner's 'Ring' cycle live three times), but it was a real stretch to make it through 'Dog Star Man.' I kept looking at the timer on my DVD's read-out to see how much time was left (something I've never done while watching 5-hour operas), and it's only about an hour long.

Why is Brakhage important? For reasons similar to James Joyce; he believed in using the inner narrative to tell a story. Does that mean either one of them is something you'll really want to sit down with for an enjoyable evening of entertainment? Only if you're in the right mood, and have 'worked up' to it, so to speak. Brakhage's work is meant to think about, not to like or dislike.

I admire how he looks at film in ways other than most people. However, that doesn't mean I'd want a steady diet of his work. I borrowed this from my public library, and am glad I did for two reasons: a) I finally got to see his work, and I really wanted to see 'Dog Star Man,' because it's on the National Film Registry; and b) because now I realize that I don't want to actually buy this DVD. Before buying, you might want to do the same thing, if you can.

Kudos to Criterion for putting the effort into the compilation. They did a great job. Thank you for putting in the interviews and voice-overs. Otherwise, this work would have been rather incomprehensible.

By Brakhage is everything I'd hoped it would be (it was well worth the looong wait). "An Anthology" is a perfect subtitle for this set. It reminds me of all those Portable Reader books that provide great and diverse samplings from a writer like Dickens or Nietzsche laced with personal journal entries and commentary by an expert. That is exactly what these DVDs feel like. You get 26 of Brakhage's films that span the time from 1954 to 2001 and span his styles from films shot with a camera in a style inspired by Italian neorealism to purely abstract, hand-painted films. The selection leaves one both satisfied and starving for more. Most of the films also feature brief but interesting audio commentary by Stan Brakhage and spread out over the two disks is a four-part interview documentary that is one of those rare DVD docs that is worth repeat viewings. The booklet is also a gem. Written by Brakhage expert and friend Fred Camper, it is divided into two main sections. The first is a six or so page essay on Brakhage's films in general and second is Camper's own brief comments on each of the films included on the DVDs.

I realize that these films are not for everyone. I saw his film "Deus Ex" which depicts open heart surgery while in college. Many students were bored near death, but some including myself were fascinated. It is safe to say the film rewired my brain in a way that has affected all my movie viewing ever since.

I love every film on the DVDs, so it is hard to pick favorites. But I will single out "The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes" (disturbing, but stay with it), "Dog Star Man," "Kindering," "The Dante Quartet," " Garden of Earthly Delights," "Black Ice," "Untitled: For Marilyn," and "Love Song."

For some reason, I really, really like handpainted films, so for me this set is an essential and cherished part of my DVD collection. "The Dante Quartet" and "The Black Tower" are simply beautiful. Wish I could see them projected ...

If you're not familiar with Brakhage's work, rent before you buy. He's an acquired taste.

be warned!this dvd is not going to appeal to the "average joe" because it doesn't make much sense and is to be considered art.if that actually sounds trippy to you,you'll probably love it as I do!this is the perfect example of just why dvd's are such an improved format versus vhs-many of the images mr brakhage presents to the viewer go by so quickly you find it hard to distinguish what they look like,or somtimes there is a frame that looks so trippy you just have to pause it.and that is the real treat-the fact that you can pause the frames(to have these films on vhs format would absolutly suck because it would look so crappy paused).another good thing about the dvd is stan's commentary on most of the films.he helps the viewer to put into perspective his ideas on what he hoped to accomplish or put forth on each film.the squeamish will want to steer clear of the film with the autopsy footage,but all the others should be acceptable to most folks.
the bottom line is that it's a great dvd that'll provide hours upon hours of entertainment,and any lover of the arts should grab this one up!(one thing I found that makes for an even more interesting experience while watching the films is to put on some music because most of them are silent.some musical suggestings to go along are buckethead's "electric tears",any angelo badalamenti movie score,litsz' dante symphony,any kronos quartet,and of coarse philip glass.these are all pretty mellow cd's with lots of "color" to them with goes VERY well with the overall tempo of the films.)