Brakhage
I got the
Stan Brakhage DVD set last week. The man was a true iconoclastic genius. It feels strange to watch the hand-painted and handmade films in digital form.The rear-projected light of the film projector gives Brakhage's work much of it's luster, but the digital transfers are very good just the same. Brakhage made the camera unnecessary in his handmade works; these are really (numerous) small paintings more than they are films. He often worked at the slower 16 frames-per-second (rather than 24) so that he could engage with the reality of film: still images projected in quick succession. Brakhage was involved with compiling the DVD and sanctioned the release just before he died a few months ago. The real reward is that there's almost no chance to ever see these films. I've lived in LA for 12 years and I know of only two screenings of Brakhage films in that time. It's nice to get his commentary on the DVD too; the man can really talk and talk and talk... And you can hear in his comments that he was deeply involved with the work and never just making it up by chance. He relates a funny story of meeting Jackson Pollock, another iconoclast who hated people describing his work as random or derived from chance. Like him, Brakhage knew what he was doing.
Posted at June 24, 2003 04:24 PM