Match Cut Directors Consensus - Stan Brakhage

[StanleyK]

http://media.sas.upenn.edu/pennsound/authors/Brakhage/brakhage.jpg

This is the week for the prolific avant-garde shorts director. Tallying this will be hell, but someone's gotta do it.

Filmography (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0104132/#director)

Rules (http://www.match-cut.org/showpost.php?p=122142&postcount=1)

Here is Window Water Baby Moving (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xe2gz_brakhage-window-water_shortfilms), which I recommend to everyone, as it's one of the most beautiful and moving films I've ever seen. If you only watch one Brakhage, make it this one.

[StanleyK]

Cat's Cradle - 9
Wedlock House: An Intercourse - 7.5
Window Water Baby Moving - 10
The Dante Quartet - 8
Black Ice - 7

[Melville]

Mothlight - 5
Window Water Baby Moving - 8.5
The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes - 9.5
Black Ice - 7

I've seen everything in the By Brakhage anthology, but these are the only ones I remember by name.

[B-side]

Wedlock House: An Intercourse- 8
Cat's Cradle- 8
Dog Star Man: Pt. I- 6.5
Window Water Baby Moving- 9.5
Prelude: Dog Star Man- 7
Mothlight- 5
Dog Star Man: Pt. II- 6
Dog Star Man: Pt. IV- 7
Dog Star Man: Pt. III- 7
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes- 6
I... Dreaming- 8
Glaze of Cathexis- 4
Delicacies of Molten Horror Synapse- 8
Black Ice- 4

[dreamdead]

Window Water Baby Moving - 8.5

Wow, just watched WWBM. Calming and yet disturbing and anxiety-inducing all the same. Graceful cutting all the way through. Love the rapidness of the hands on the belly sequence immediately post-birth. Will check out others of his work throughout the week.

[Spinal]

Window Water Baby Moving - 6.5
Prelude: Dog Star Man - 1

[Ezee E]

Window Water Baby Moving - 9
Prelude: DOg Star Man - 1
Mothlight - 5

[Spaceman Spiff]

Window Water Baby Moving - 4.0
Prelude: Dog Star Man - 2.0
Mothlight - 4.5

[Yxklyx]

Desistfilm - 8
Wedlock House: An Intercourse - 7
Prelude: Dog Star Man - 5
Dog Star Man: Part I - 4
Dog Star Man: Part II - 3
Dog Star Man: Part III - 2
Dog Star Man: Part IV - 1
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes - 1

-

Desistfilm is a very memorable and unique experience for me.

[soitgoes...]

The Wonder Ring (1955) - 6.5
Cat's Cradle (1959) - 10
Prelude: Dog Star Man (1962) - 3.0
Mothlight (1963) - 4.0
Eye Myth (1967) - 8.0
Black Ice (1994) - 7.0
Persian Series #1 (1999) - 7.0
Persian Series #2 (1999) - 7.0
Persian Series #3 (1999) - 7.0
Persian Series #4 (1999) - 7.0
Persian Series #5 (1999) - 7.0

I'm afraid watching any of his films that are longer than say 15 minutes will be more chore than treat. Also, his hand painted films are pretty close to impossible to rate.

All that said, Cat's Cradle (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cur2P5Ym3Yw) is one of the best examples of experimental/avant garde films I've seen.

[Pop Trash]

Window Water Baby Moving -9
Mothlight -8

Those are the only two I really remember and I agree that his handpainted stuff is impossible to rate.

[B-side]

I feel like I just watched something brilliant with Cat's Cradle, but I wish I had a more personal connection with it. I think I admired it more than I enjoyed it. It would help if I felt like I had a better idea of what it was doing or saying.

[Boner M]

Mothlight (1963) - 9
Eye Myth (1967) - 8
Door (1971) - 3
The Wold Shadow (1972) - 7
The Stars Are Beautiful (1974) - 4
The Garden of Earthly Delights (1981) - 8
The Dante Quartet (1987) - 9
Rage Net (1988) - 7
Black Ice (1993) - 8
Stellar (1994) - 7

Seeing all of the above on the big screen was quite something. Youtube definitely doesn't do his work justice.

[balmakboor]

Window Water Baby Moving -9
Mothlight -8

Those are the only two I really remember and I agree that his handpainted stuff is impossible to rate.

I don't know about impossible, but certainly hard and almost pointless.

My most honest input for this thread would be that I've seen everything on the By Brakhage set plus Deus Ex and everything rates "E" for essential.

That said, one of my favorite films of all time is Love Song. The beauty and complexity and emotion behind that series of paint splashes is awe inspiring. I've watched it at least 50 times.

Deus Ex probably changed my thoughts about the cinema more than any other film when I saw it back in college. In a handful of minutes, that movie, which is part of the same trilogy as The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes, changed the possibilities of cinema from quite finite to truly infinite for me.

[StanleyK]

How anyone can rate Eye Myth is beyond me.

Results:

Window Water Baby Moving - 8.125 (8)
Black Ice - 6.600 (4)
Mothlight - 5.786 (7)
Prelude: Dog Star Man - 3.167 (6)

Average: 5.920

Didn't make it:

Cat's Cradle - 9.000 (3)
The Dante Quartet - 8.500 (2)
Delicacies of Molten Horror Synapse - 8.000 (1)
Desistfilm - 8.000 (1)
Eye Myth - 8.000 (2)
The Garden of Earthly Delights - 8.000 (1)
I... Dreaming - 8.000 (1)
Wedlock House: An Intercourse - 7.500 (3)
Persian Series #1 - 7.000 (1)
Persian Series #2 - 7.000 (1)
Persian Series #3 - 7.000 (1)
Persian Series #4 - 7.000 (1)
Persian Series #5 - 7.000 (1)
Rage Net - 7.000 (1)
Stellar - 7.000 (1)
The Wold Shadow - 7.000 (1)
The Wonder Ring - 6.500 (1)
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes - 5.500 (3)
Dog Star Man: Part I - 5.250 (2)
Dog Star Man: Part II - 4.500 (2)
Dog Star Man: Part III - 4.500 (2)
Dog Star Man: Part IV - 4.000 (2)
Glaze of Cathexis - 4.000 (1)
The Stars Are Beautiful - 4.000 (1)
Door - 3.000 (1)

Most seen (but didn't rate any 'cause he's no fun): balmakboor
Most seen and rated: Brightside

[B-side]

Most seen: Brightside

Well, not really, but I'll take it.:P

[StanleyK]

Well, not really, but I'll take it.:P

Fixed it for accuracy.

[B-side]

Fixed it for accuracy.

;)

[Boner M]

I really like this excerpt from Brakhage's essay 'In Defense of an Amateur':


I have come to be called a ‘professional,’ an ‘artist’ and an ‘amateur.’ Of those three terms — ‘amateur’ — is the one I am truly most honored by… Why have they come to make ‘amateur’ mean: ‘inexperienced,’ ‘clumsy,’ ‘dull,’ or even ‘dangerous’? It is because an amateur is one who really lives his life — not one who simply ‘performs his duty’ — and as such he experiences his work while he’s working — rather than going to school to learn his work so he can spend the rest of his life just doing it dutifully.

[balmakboor]

How anyone can rate Eye Myth is beyond me.

Results:

Window Water Baby Moving - 8.125 (8)
Black Ice - 6.600 (4)
Mothlight - 5.786 (7)
Prelude: Dog Star Man - 3.167 (6)

Average: 5.920

Didn't make it:

Cat's Cradle - 9.000 (3)
The Dante Quartet - 8.500 (2)
Delicacies of Molten Horror Synapse - 8.000 (1)
Desistfilm - 8.000 (1)
Eye Myth - 8.000 (2)
The Garden of Earthly Delights - 8.000 (1)
I... Dreaming - 8.000 (1)
Wedlock House: An Intercourse - 7.500 (3)
Persian Series #1 - 7.000 (1)
Persian Series #2 - 7.000 (1)
Persian Series #3 - 7.000 (1)
Persian Series #4 - 7.000 (1)
Persian Series #5 - 7.000 (1)
Rage Net - 7.000 (1)
Stellar - 7.000 (1)
The Wold Shadow - 7.000 (1)
The Wonder Ring - 6.500 (1)
The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes - 5.500 (3)
Dog Star Man: Part I - 5.250 (2)
Dog Star Man: Part II - 4.500 (2)
Dog Star Man: Part III - 4.500 (2)
Dog Star Man: Part IV - 4.000 (2)
Glaze of Cathexis - 4.000 (1)
The Stars Are Beautiful - 4.000 (1)
Door - 3.000 (1)

Most seen (but didn't rate any 'cause he's no fun): balmakboor
Most seen and rated: Brightside

With BB Vol. 2 about to hit store shelves (and my mailbox), I started wondering if we'd done a Brakhage consensus yet. Then I discovered that not only had we done so, but that I had participated. I should point out that I did rate all 31 films I'd seen as 'E' for essential. I still think it's pretty silly to try to rate these films on a 1 to 10 scale though.

I do find the low scores for the various parts of Dog Star Man to be baffling. I've seen it about 10 times including twice last week and I find the whole thing fascinating and jawdroppingly beautiful. Easily, taken as a whole, one of my favorite films.

[origami_mustache]

WTF is up with all the low ratings? I preordered By Brakhage Vol:2 as soon as I heard it was announced.

[balmakboor]

WTF is up with all the low ratings? I preordered By Brakhage Vol:2 as soon as I heard it was announced.

Five days to go and counting. I paid Amazon a little extra to have it delivered on its release date. I've even considered calling in sick on Wednesday and spending the day watching it, but maybe that's a bit excessive.

[Russ]

That said, one of my favorite films of all time is Love Song.
So glad you mentioned this one. I agree with you, it's stunning, and probably my favorite. Can't believe no one has rated it yet.