184, 517-518 by Brakhage: An Anthology (Volumes One and Two)

[Adam]

Yes, it does.

But I think his films are less "samey" then say, any three Hollywood romantic comedies.

I also think one also can't watch a bunch of Brakhage films in a row, or a whole disc worth. I think it would be overwhelming, and one would stop processing information. They are all about perception, and close observation. One can be completely absorbed, or completely disenchanted. And he made over 400 films, in a variety of modes and explorations, so one could see some repetition among them. But I wouldn't curate a Brakhage show with seven films in the same mode.

[MoonlitKnight]

So they're not going to release both volumes together on standard DVD (so the number 518 is not denied a place) to appease us perfectionists?

[perkizitore]

They don't even offer the blu-rays in standalone editions!

[Particle Zoo]

So, the question is, does this really add anything to the first set (which gets pretty samey by the end)?

Every single frame is different!

[Nothing]

Every single frame is different!

Every single frame of A Beautiful Mind is different too

[Particle Zoo]

^
Touche!

[Elephant_Gun]

No "Passage Through" (1990)? Tragedy.

I think this is again indicative of a situation where it is less about whether or not the visual display is comparable to that of its 16mm counterpart and more about the perhaps unnameable 'other' that accompanies the projection of these works on celluloid. The 'Ritual' of the title seems to at least in part point to the rituals associated with the projection of film, exemplified by the catalogue description itself "To be absolutely 'true to' the ritual of this passage, the two reels of the film should be shown on one projector, taking the normal amount of time, without rewinding reel #1 or showing the finish and start leaders of either - especially without changing the sound dials - between reels."

[DDillaman]

So, the question is, does this really add anything to the first set (which gets pretty samey by the end)?

I'm not familiar with a lot of these films, but there's two that immediately leap out to me:

"..." is an etched film different in mode from anything on the first set. There's an excerpt in the BRAKHAGE documentary that was the most indelible image for me in that entire film, and since then I've been dying to see more. While I'd love to have all five parts, having at least one is a major blessing.

And the "Chinese Series" is one of the most powerful films I've ever seen, when watched with the knowledge that Brakhage made the film on his death bed, hand scratching it with his fingernails. It's a testament to the man's absolute devotion to the medium, and a fitting summation of a life dedicated to film.

Having said that, I doubt either of these would do anything to turn a Brakhage-hater around.

[zedz]

I'm pretty sure Criterion has confirmed this as Region A (like all Criterion BluRays, regardless of licensing requirements), so if you import it to the UK you'll need to have a region-free player.

[cdnchris]

I've always been rather pleased with the original DVD, but after sampling the Blu-ray edition of Volume One I have to say the picture quality is outstanding, the colours alone are just incredible in some of them. And going frame by frame on a lot of the films here presents clear, highly detailed images. So far it looks perfect.

[ouatitw]

Oh I can't wait.

[cdnchris]

This didn't even clue in at first since a majority of the films are silent but the audio is not uncompressed for the sound films as it states on the website and on the package: it's Dolby Digital 1.0 mono. I'm sure someone will cry foul but I can't say it's something that's going to be screaming out: only 9 films have sound, one of which is optional (which I have to add doesn't make itself readily apparent,) and the quality, though restored somewhat, isn't the greatest overall. The remaining films are all completely silent.

I haven't made my way through the supplements yet, just revisiting the ones for Volume One, and I'm waiting to hear back from Criterion on one thing I asked them about this release, but as a whole I'm very pleased so far. It's an impressive package. The second volume has been divided into Programs presenting films with common themes, I guess you could say, grouped together, and was apparently Peter Becker's idea. I actually rather enjoyed this approach. The booklet contains extensive notes by Marilyn Brakhage on these programs and the films. There's also some interesting information on the selection process for the films, with an interesting mention of how some films that were considered for inclusion were ultimately dropped because they couldn't be perfectly reflected on the format (it sounds like they depended on the flicker of a projector bulb.) I also loved a nice piece by Mark Toscano on preserving Brakhage's films. The booklet, in all, is fantastic.

[Gregor Samsa]

DVD Talk

[hangman]

So, the question is, does this really add anything to the first set (which gets pretty samey by the end)?

From what I've watched so far and leafing quickly through the program notes by Camper. I would say that the second set has less similar films than the first.

This set does add something different from the first set in that rather than focusing on the hand painted series this set looks into Brakhage's use of footage. This set I would say has so far been more mediative, no pun intended from the titles of meditation, and evoke more on 'food for thought' on the subject of war and childhood (well I've only reached Program 2). So one can see more the way Brakhage's style of film making communicates through the subjectivity he puts on everyday objects, as he does with Machine from Eden, and his editting along with superimposing of images, as with the first program films 23rd Psalm or The Dead.

Just watched one of the excerpts of Brakhage interviews and can't help but laugh at his anecdote with how he was selected to shoot Wonder Ring. The way he had the game-show-esque elimination question to being asked seemingly random open ended questions, like 'how was your day?', that if the producer who commissioned him didn't like the answer would hang up and refuse to contact Brakhage. Adding to that was the only means of communication with the producer was through a phonebooth atop the Manhattan railway station, which he would shoot. Finally, editting his film in Maya Daren's apartment who was at that time deeply immersed in Haiti voodoo practices. Imagining him going all through that is just too

[cdnchris]

Blu-ray

[ccfixx]

Thanks for the review, Chris. It sounds like quite the exhausting set to go through for a review, so it's much appreciated. My copy is own its way from Criterion so I can't wait to dive into it.

CC

[cdnchris]

It's a great set and if you haven't been through the original DVD yet then I think you're in for a treat. They really put a lot of love into it.

[What A Disgrace]

I'm still a little sad that the entirety of Scenes From Under Childhood wasn't included in this set. It almost makes me want to hold of on the first part until volume 3. Were those films excluded from the Blu-ray set because Marilyn didn't think Blu-ray could capture the subtleties of film projection?

[Elephant_Gun]

I believe it was more a case of making a conscious effort to include a wider range of films in the hopes of presenting a introduction into certain themes and developments across his career and hopefully act as a catalyst to encourage further exploration in their original [film] form, rather than focusing on a handful of specific serial works in their entirety...

For those interested in such things, there will be past critical writings on some of the films included in the release all through the week...

[Adam]

Tonight, Los Angeles, if you are here, I'm having this show:

Sunday June 6, 2010, 7:30 pm Los Angeles Filmforum presents BY BRAKHAGE: A 16MM FILM SCREENING
At the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. at Las Palmas, Los Angeles http://www.lafilmforum.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Filmforum opens June with a celebratory program of 16mm films by Stan Brakhage, commemorating the release of Criterion’s DVD set By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume Two. However, we also wish to commemorate the continued availability of all of Stan Brakhage’s films on film, the format in which they are ideally intended to be seen. As such, tonight’s program draws its films from the contents of Criterion’s DVD release, but presented in their original 16mm. Brakhage’s filmmaking is so vividly and deeply about the textures and properties of celluloid film and the apparatus of film projection, and this program is designed to highlight works from this excellent DVD release that particularly benefit from projection in their original medium. The Criterion release is cause for celebration, but we also invite you to continue to seek out and support the projection of films on film as much as possible.

Program curated and introduced by Mark Toscano, preservationist at the Academy Film Archive. Prints from the Academy Film Archive and Canyon Cinema.

Admission for Filmforum screenings: $10 general, $6 students/seniors, free for Filmforum members
Advance ticket purchase available through Brown Paper Tickets at
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/113792" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Two: Creeley/McClure (1965, color, silent 24fps, 5min.)
“Two portraits in relation to each other, the first of Robert Creeley, the second of Michael McClure.” (Stan Brakhage)
Restored print from the Academy Film Archive.

Scenes From Under Childhood, Section One (sound version) (1967, color, sound, 25min.)
“A visualization of the inner world of foetal beginnings, the infant, the baby, the child - a shattering of the ‘myths of childhood’ through revelation of the extremes of violent terror and overwhelming joy of that world darkened to most adults by their sentimental remembering of it ... a ‘tone poem’ for the eye – very inspired by the music of Oliver Messiaen. (The visual imagery was inspired by Messiaen - NOT the Sound Track.)” (Stan Brakhage)
Stan Brakhage had originally stated that he would remove the sound version of this film from distribution once all four parts of the feature were completed, but he ultimately never did so. For this evening’s program, it was decided to run the sound version of the film for a few reasons: the film is rarely shown with its original soundtrack, and to connect this film with the followup program of Brakhage’s sound films on June 20, 2010. It also seemed a worthwhile exploration of what Brakhage described as “the ‘sound problem’ of motion picture aesthetic.” (Mark Toscano)
Kodachrome print from the Academy Film Archive.

The Process (1972, color, silent 24fps, 8min.)
“LIGHT was primary in my consideration. All senses of "process" are (to me) based primarily on ‘thought-process’; and ‘thought-process’ is based primarily on ‘memory re-call’; and that, as any memory process (all process finally) is electrical (firing of nerve connection) and expresses itself most clearly as a ‘back-firing’ of nerve endings in the eye which DO become visible to us (usually eyes closed) as ‘brain movies’ – as Michael McClure calls them. When we are not re-constructing ‘a scene’ (re-calling something once seen), then we are watching (on the ‘screen’ of closed eye-lids) the very PROCESS itself.” (Stan Brakhage)
New print from the Academy Film Archive.

Yggdrasill: Whose Roots are Stars in the Human Mind (1997, color, silent 24fps, 17min.)
“This film, a combination of hand-painting and photography, is a fulsome exposition of the themes of DOG STAR MAN. In that early epic I had envisioned The World Tree as dead, fit only for firewood; and at end of DOG STAR MAN I had chopped it up amidst a flurry of stars (finally Cassiopia's Chair): now, these many years later, I am compelled to comprehend YGGDRASILL as rooted in the complex electrical synapses of thought process, to sense it being alive today as when nordic legendry hatched it. I share this compulsion with Andrei Tarkovsky, whose last film The Sacrifice struggles to revive The World Tree narratively, whereas I simply present (one might almost say ‘document’) a moving graph approximate to my thought process, whereby The Tree roots itself as the stars we, reflectively, are.” (Stan Brakhage)

From: First Hymn to the Night – Novalis (1994, color, silent 24fps, 3min.)
“This a hand-painted film whose emotionally referential shapes and colors are interwoven with words (in English) from the first Hymn to the Night by the late 18th century mystic poet Friedrich Philipp von Hardenberg, whose pen name was Novalis. The pieces of text which I've used are as follows: ‘the universally gladdening light ... As inmost soul ... it is breathed by stars ... by stone ... by suckling plant ... multiform beast ... and by (you). I turn aside to Holy Night ... I seek to blend with ashes. Night opens in us ... infinite eyes ... blessed love.’” (Stan Brakhage)
New print from the Academy Film Archive.

Visions in Meditation #3 (Plato’s Cave) (1990, color, sound, 17min.)
“Plato's cave would seem to be the idée fixe of this film. The vortex would, then, be the phenomenological world – overwhelming, and thus ‘uninhabitable.’ The structures of thoughtful meditation are naturally, therefore, equivocal so that, for example, even a tornado-in-the-making will be both ‘dust devil’ and ‘finger of God’ at one with the clockwork sun and the strands of ice/fire, horizon, rock, clouds, so on. The film is, I believe, a vision of mentality as most people must (to the irritation of Plato) have it, safely encaved and metaphorical, for the nervous system to survive. All the same I hope, with this work, to have brought a little ‘rush light’ into the darkness. The film is set to the three movements of Rick Corrigan's ‘Memory Suite.’ Its multiple superimpositions are superbly timed by Louise Fujiki, of Western Cine, as usual.” (Stan Brakhage)

For the screenings at the Egyptian Theater:
Parking is now easiest at the Hollywood & Highland complex. Bring your ticket for validation. Parking is $2 for 4 hours with validation. Enter that complex on Highland or Hollywood. The theater is 1.5 blocks east.

[HistoryProf]

boy, I was never terribly interested in forking over the cash for this set on blu, but the press it is getting is hard to ignore. This seems to be surpassing the War Trilogy in terms of the absolute gushing over both the material and its importance to film history. I've seen various Brakhage pieces, but i'm more and more tempted to check this out on blu...but I still can't get past the idea of having such an abundance of non-narrative film in terms of wondering when/if I'd ever actually watch it. or why. what possesses someone to pull this out and put it in? how do you choose what to watch? it seems like pushing through it all in one sitting would be exhausting and counter-productive...while I also can't see watching it for more than an hour in the first place. any feedback on experiences with the new HD set?

[Particle Zoo]

any feedback on experiences with the new HD set?

I think it helps to have some contextual knowledge of what Brakhage was trying to achieve, the booklet with the set is very good in this regard, as is the Jim Sheddon documentary available from Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Brakhage-Jerry-Ar ... 480&sr=8-4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
When viewed in the order they were made, his films move into abstraction gradually. Indeed abstraction is probably the wrong word because more than anything, he's trying to make you see in a different way.
Watching the films on Blu has certainly depended my appreciation for them, I would recommend watching the films a few at a time in the case of the shorter ones. Try to be in a receptive frame of mind, open to associative visual ideas. There is often narrative of some form present, but not in a dramatic sense.

[Andrei]

I got the Blu-Ray set about a week ago... I haven't gone all the way through it, but I am a bit concerned about the quality of the transfers, and I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this yet. Watching "Dog Star Man," there is a lot of jpeg graininess--which looks very different from film, even 16 mm film, graininess--and comes from files being compressed too much. You can see it especially in shots with more or less flat areas of blue or gray--shots of the sky, for example. I am seriously disappointed, these transfers should be absolutely pristine, and it looks like they opted to put more material on each disc than to go for high transfer quality. I can compare them, for example, with a transfer like that of "2001," which I also happened to get in the last week and which, from the point of view of graininess at least, is indeed pristine.

[movielocke]

are you really comparing graininess of a bluray of a film shot on 65mm with a bluray of a film shot on 16mm and complaining that the 16 doesn't look like 65?