Product Details

• Actors: Charles Bukowski, Ted Berrigan
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Homevision
• VHS Release Date: September 21, 2001
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 078001913X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,905 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Before the current poetry slam trend began, director Ron Mann presciently documented this series of poetic performances, including some by legendary writers who have since died (Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, John Cage, and Charles Bukowski). There's Ginsberg in a suit, dancing and accompanied by a band as he practically sings his poems, John Giorno demonstrating his admitted desire to be drunk or stoned during performances, Ntozake Shange contemplating slavery and stereotypes while modern dancers do their thing, and Amiri Baraka paying tribute to Bob Marley to the accompaniment of drums and a sax. Some of the performances are humorous, such as that of the white-haired Helen Adam, who sings her poems of love and LSD, and Kenward Elmslie, who chants his rhymes with a boom box playing background music on his lap. The 88-minute documentary is sandwiched by (and interspersed with) comments from Bukowski, who begins by dissing Tolstoy and eventually compares the creative process to that of producing excrement. Neophytes may get a little thrill when Bukowski predictably pours himself a drink as he profanely pontificates or when Burroughs growls his stories of violent, reeking losers; beat poet fans will feel nostalgic. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Product Description

Director Ron Mann (Comic Book Confidential, Grass) filmed over 75 poets and writers for what the AMERICAN FILM called "the Woodstock of Poetry". Ginsberg, Burroughs, Baraka, and Di Prima are just a few of the poets associated with the 'Beat Generation'. Through the spoken word they reinvented language giving a fresh, loud voice to an era contending with major change. Like Walt Whitman before them, this group felt their world deeply, and sought the assemblage of words to bemoan its injustices and celebrate its multitudinous beauty. With the recent loss of Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, John Cage, and Charles Bukowski, Poetry in Motion is, for younger generations, one of the few remaining documents to capture the genius of the innovators and legends of post-modern American poetry.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The good, the bad, the Bukowski, July 3, 2000

By	Joshua W Berk (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews

"Poetry in Motion" somehow won an award for best documentary in the early '80s despite the seeming litmitations of not really being a documentary and also of not really being very good. The film does not have any structure, narrative or point. The filmmaker demonstrates no research or understanding of his topic. All he did was point the camera at the poets and let them do their thing. This would be fine, except for that, as Charles Bukowski says in one of the few interesting segements in the film, "most poets are a--holes."

Old Buk is featured at the very beginning, middle and very end of the movie and, despite being the only poet on the thing not to read one word of poetry, steals the show. I laughed out loud as he talked about how reading Tolstoy gives him a headache and giggled again when he said that he was driven to write because everyone else was doing it so badly.

His words rang especially true after the parade of pompous, boring, and nauseating poets featured on the film. With a few exceptions (Allen Ginsberg, Helen Adams, Tom Waits, William Burroughs and a few others), I found myself wondering if perhaps the filmmaker was trying to to illustrate Bukowski's points by making a movie about how bad most poetry is and how obnoxious most poets are. If so, the film is a success -- but still a waste of time. Truth be told, I don't think the filmmaker could tell the difference between good and bad poetry if it were right in front of him -- which, in fact, it was. Way too much bad poetry performed by pompous jerks overshadows the few gems on this video. I don't know where else Bukowski can be seen on video though, so some will want to buy it for that reason alone.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good old hippie poetry and interviews, September 2, 2003

By	Fred C. Bunch "basshunter" (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Get this tape!! Steal it from a friend if necessary, but see it, especially if you were a child of the 60's or are interested in these kinky, highly creative citizens.
Seeing and hearing these talented writers read is just plain awesome!
Peace.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I expected more, October 8, 2003

By A Customer

I expected more. I purchased this film along with Slamnation and Fooling with Words. The film barely kept me engaged and the poetry and performances were lackluster. Fooling with Words gives a more comprehensive look at the craft with poets that are not relics of an age almost forgotten. Slamnation is a must have and will wake you up from the coma that Poetry in Motion might cause.