As ‘Sherlock Jr.’-the infamous Buster Keaton film- came to a close, my mind drifted to more instinctive thoughts, such as the pressing need to fill my stomach and my impending visit to the toilet (as I had made the mistake of drinking tea throughout the film in an attempt to stave of early morning drowsiness), but the lights did not brighten nor did the curtains draw. Instead a flashy organ (from c. 1937) rose out of the pit accompanied by an enthusiastic organist, whose passion for his art was clearly evident. With my bladder swelling to an unnatural size and my stomach aggressively growling, the second film began. ‘Man with a Movie Camera’ is a 1929 film not often seen by an English/Southern Californian girl like myself-even though I believe myself to be privy with the Movie industry and its history. Like any avant-garde 20s European film, one often finds one’s eyes glazing over after about 45 minutes of haphazard flailing around on screen. But like much of surrealist-esque cinema, the parts that you have managed to retain in your memory are stupendous.
As I came away from watching the movie (having had a small breakfast and used the cinema toilets-to the dismay of those kicking us out who were preparing for the afternoon matinee of ‘The Kings Speech’), my thoughts turned to the contemporaries of Dziga Vertov, like Salvador Dali and Louis Bunuel. Their deliberately perverse 16 minute film “Un Chien Andalou” 1928[1] (“An Andalusian Dog), contains the iconic “severing of Simone Mareuil’s eyeball” (a cow eye was used, but it was still very convincing). It also was accompanied by a medley of jubilant tunes (like those that our organist dutifully played for us, during the entire duration of the 60 minute ‘Man/Camera’), adding to the already peculiar experience. Although the subject matter bore little or no resemblance to a ‘Man with a Movie Camera’, the cinematography (the rickety movements of the actors and sandwiching/manipulating negatives included) in both films is reflective of the time, when much of cinema was still experimental.
Another film from that era that is more closely related to ‘Man with a Movie Camera’ in zeal and appeal was Man Rays ‘Emak Bakia’ 1926[2]- comprised of abstract imagery and what appears to be some of his “rayographs” [3](photograms). An agilmente guitar solo strummed throughout (something redolent of Django Reinheart) as the film flashes back and forth between abstraction and reality. I should say first that ‘Emak Bakia’ is not my favorite film, the cinematography is lame at times (although the stop motion animation was quite interesting, it only makes up a small percentage of the film), and the subject matter did not hold my interest. It has the appearance of a child’s first super 8, home/vacation movie experiment (shaky “out of the car window” shots and all), but like ‘Man/Camera’ it is not about the story (of which there is none) but about creating a piece of art, however subtle.
[1] Michael Koller, 2001. Un Chien Andalou [online]Available at: <http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/01/12/chien.html> [Accessed 27 Febuary 2011].
[2]ubuweb. Emak Bakia) [online]Available at: < http://www.ubu.com/film/ray.html> [Accessed 27 Febuary 2011].
[3] Artchive Man Ray [online]Available at: <http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/man_ray.html> [Accessed 27 Febuary 2011].
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