Customer Reviews

Imaginary Landscapes [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yeah, some people will dig this and some people won't... It's slow, ethereal, occasionally drifting and occasionally stirring... If you can lean back and let a sensual experience fill your senses, then you will enjoy this mightily. If you require more content and substance, it won't be so much your thing.

The Eno interview footage is regrettable sparse (though the limited amount of it is very enlightening, and the "punch line" at the end is quietly hilarious), but the sensual content is extraordinary, so if you go in knowing what to expect, perhaps you will appreciate it for exactly what it is.

For the record, I think the final shot of the sun setting over the water, with the horizon vanishing between the sun and its own reflection, is perhaps the most beautiful scene I have ever witnessed on film. They definitely saved the best for last in a film rife with both tranquil and striking imagery.

Being a huge fan of Eno's music and his methods of making that music, I thought this might be an interesting peek inside the life and/or mind of this talented musician/producer. Nope. The film starts off with promise in that you do see Eno in his studio dicussing sounds, ideas, etc. It then begins the first in a series of increasingly irritating (in my mind) "landscape" shots with his music playing over the top. You may get a snippet of conversation here and there, but it mostly is just bad films of open highways, clouds and scenery shot from a car with his music over the top. I fell asleep the first time I watched it. I tried again the next day thinking I was just tired. Nope. It's just that dull.

This film changed my whole approach to film. To me it's revolutionary. (Its best seen as a film piece rather than an exposition of the life and times of Brian Eno.) I like the fact that it has space between the dialogue with the montages of film and music. The disjunction between dialogue and imagery is provacative. I particularly like the juxtaposition of the seemingly random comments about wildlife contrasting with the technical aspects of both the commentary of Eno on his art and the way the film is edited.
Like some of the other film makers I admire---Sally Potter, Jarmusch, Herzog---the style of this film allows the viewer in by creating a sense of space and wonder.
I hope this comes out on DVD soon.

There's just so little media out there showing Brian in action in the studio that what little exists in this film I consider wonderful.

I'm not into prying into the private lives of the artists who's works I admire, but I am very interested in their work environments, processes and theories. This film provides a look into the creative substance by overlaying content with comment. It works enough for me to give it a 5, but it does leave me wanting more.

His book, 'A Year With Swollen Apendices' provides quite a bit more, but as a video/audio professional, I long for more emmersive biographical content like this and Picasso's film of painting on Glass.

I feel the film has a beauty in it, a visual beauty, that people like the prior reviewer I guess don't like.