Of all art forms, filmmaking is the one most taken for granted: no sooner is an artistic or technical advance made than its salient features are employed in the harness of commerce. Yet, innovation is almost always the province of individual expression. Film at Wit's End presents eight artists who have electrified American independent cinema across four decades: James Broughton, Bruce Conner, Maya Deren, Jerome Hill, Ken Jacobs, Christopher MacLaine, Marie Menken, and Sidney Peterson. Each of these filmmakers' lives and work is brought into sharp focus as we enter the art scenes of New York and San Francisco during times of ferment and controversy. Film at Wit's End tells marvelous tales of serendipitous encounters, of life lived at the edge of social disapproval, and of the insistent development of an art form.
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From Publishers Weekly
Adapted from classroom lectures, Brakhage's profiles of eight avant-garde filmmakers have a conversational, relaxed flow. If the tone is chummy and the frequent superlatives annoying, the narratives are nevertheless coherent. Among those we meet are Maya Deren, Voodoun priestess of Greenwich Village and well-known personality of the 1940s and '50s; Christopher MacLaine, chronicler of San Francisco's Beat movement; and Ken Jacobs, whose films include Soft Rain , Blonde Cobra , and Little Stabs at Happiness . Himself a filmmaker, critic ( Brakhage Scrapbook , etc.) and professor of film studies at the University of Colorado, Brakhage has been friends with all eight subjects. His personal insight into their lives deepens his understanding of their aims and techniques. Also here are Jerome Hill, Marie Menken, James Broughton, Bruce Conner and Sidney Peterson. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
A basic book in the canon of experimental cinema. -- Film Quarterly
Intelligent, warm and often highly personal tributes. -- Classic Images
Not only luminous...miniature biographies, but also social and cultural portraits of art-in-America. A fascinating collection. -- The Columbus Dispatch
Intelligent, warm and often highly personal tributes. -- Classic Images
Not only luminous...miniature biographies, but also social and cultural portraits of art-in-America. A fascinating collection. -- The Columbus Dispatch
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This review is from: Film at Wit's End: Eight Avant-Garde Filmmakers (Paperback)
I loved reading this book. If you like to really learn about the personal lives of filmmakers this is the book for you. Stan Brakhrage writes in an easy fun manner. It's an easy read and you can skip around the chapters and read about all your favorite film artists first. Marie Menken is my favorite, I would have loved to have hung out with her and the gang in that era. It's also very informative about their work too. There is a great story in the Marie Menken chapter on how Menken got into film by working with her husband, Willard Maas on his film, Geography of the Body. It describes how she used a magnifying glass to do the close ups, I tried it, it does work. The point being, it's not a lot of technical big words that sends you to the dictionary, it's down to earth and the information will stay with you long after you read it. You'll have great stories to tell while hanging out in the pub with other artists and a beer.
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