A Hollis Frampton Odyssey: Early Films
Posted by martinteller on September 1, 2012
Manual of Arms – Frampton gathers 14 of his pals (including Twyla Tharp and Michael Snow) and one by one, films each sitting on a stool, doing whatever they feel like. With different editing and camera techniques, he tries to capture each one’s personality. It’s a useful guide for how cinematic methods can be used to reveal character, but not especially compelling for casual viewing. Rating: Fair (62)
Process Red – A series of shots featuring hands performing mundane action, given frenetic energy through rapid cutting, blurred pans and red filters. It’s like Bresson on meth. Rating: Good (72)
Maxwell’s Demon – This suggested to me an authoritarian voice (the flashing frames of pure color alternating with shots of the sea, accompanied by the harsh buzz of sprocket holes) ordering humanity (the stock footage of a man doing exercises) to perform. None of this apparently has anything to do with Frampton’s intentions, but it was mildly interesting for its brief length. Rating: Fair (68)
Surface Tension – A short film in three parts. In the first, we see a man talking, but we do not hear him and he’s sped up. In the second, over images of New York streets whizzing by, we hear a man saying something, but it’s in German. In the last part, we see an unusual image of a goldfish appearing to swim above the surf (a transparent trick, but still a nifty one). Superimposed are phrases describing the intent to make a three-part film. By association, we presume the man in the first part is the same voice in the second part and his words are transcribed in the third. A nice example of how cinema can communicate in different ways. Rating: Good (76)
Carrots & Peas – It’s, uh… carrots and peas. Most of it just one static image of carrots and peas. The soundtrack is something talking, played in reverse. Doing shit backwards is one of the most uninteresting things you can do in film. I struggle to find any value in this, although the colors are kinda pretty. Rating: Crap (22)
Lemon – It’s, uh… a lemon. Looming large in the frame, as the light source slowly changes over it, giving it different textures. It is remarkably breast-like in some light. Hard not to outright dismiss this as conceptual nonsense, but like a lot of experimental film, you get out of it what you put into it. I wasn’t inspired to put anything into it. Rating: Poor (34)
I’m going to stop there and continue the rest later. I know from experience that it’s all too easy for me to get burnout watching experimental movies.
