Visual reduction of narrative events

[Boner M]

I was inspired recently by this quote from Todd Haynes on 2001: A Space Odyssey:

“It's an astoundingly experimental, formally experimental film in every way. It's just shocking when you go to see it again and you realize how much time is spent watching a triangle move into a rectangle or a sphere into a cone. It's almost the most basic geometric reduction of narrative conflict.”

Can you think of similar & memorable instances of this, where a narrative conflict (or at least the imparting of information) is reduced to few dots or lines on the screen?

(mild spoilers)

The scene in Lang's Ministry of Fear where a key character is shot through a door after exiting a darkened room; his death revealed by a bullethole in the door appearing as a speck of light on a pitch black screen, followed by that light briefly flickering as the body falls outside the room, then followed by the sound of a slumping body outside. Amazingly economic and expressive at once.

The ending of Kiarostami's Through the Olive Trees, which reduces two characters to dots moving across a landscape and still manages to be stunningly dramatic and ambiguous at once.

Couldn't find any screencaps, sorry.

[MacGuffin]

How about Hans Richter Dada-esque stuff? Most of those "structuralist" movies don't really have a narrative, but I think you could argue for some of Brakhage's movies, where enough significant formal ideas begin to form some sort of hazy narrative.

Not really sure about shapes in such a specific way you describe, especially for mainstream narrative films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, even though that's significantly more experimental than most. You'd probably want to look to the long-shot artists like Michael Haneke or Tsai Ming-liang or Godard who, as you already know, uses a lot of very minimally composed images, and then pick stuff out of that. I'm sure in a lot of those movies there are shots that linger long enough to where shapes begin to form/images begin to represent the overall mood.

Also the beginning of L'humanité with the detective on the hillside.

[Boner M]

How about Hans Richter Dada-esque stuff? Most of those "structuralist" movies don't really have a narrative, but I think you could argue for some of Brakhage's movies, where enough significant formal ideas begin to form some sort of hazy narrative.
That's the kind of thing that the Ministry of Fear scene evoked for me. But yeah, I'm specifically referring to narrative films.

[MacGuffin]

OOOH, I got a good one: Anna Karina behind the glass window in Alphaville.

Edit: Wait a second, I don't think I get this.

[balmakboor]

Off topic, but I'd pay good money to see a Todd Haynes space odyssey.

[Boner M]

Go thread go

[Derek]

Widening your restriction to dots-and-lines a bit:

http://www.pointsdactu.org/IMG/jpg/ivan2.jpg

Ivan the Terrible, Part 1

http://chiphazard.zip.net/images/terror.jpg

Perhaps not as abstract as you're looking for but the emasculated Jerry in The Ladies' Man is often reduced to little more than a cartoonish speck of primary color caught in the Escherian maze of horny young girls.

http://auteursnotebook.s3.amazonaws.c om/multiple%20images/Nicholas%20Ray/Bitter-Victory-1.jpg

Bitter Victory

Not the best example, but towards the end of the film, the two protagonists are concealed and camouflaged by sand blowing in the desert, literally turning them into abstract movements to mirror their moral struggle.

http://dyn.ifilm.com/resize/image/stills/films/resize/istd/2861013.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zlc81EWkeDU/S547GsMHacI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/LswI_bbuIXE/s320/vlcsnap-2010-03-15-09h53m44s188.png

2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

A zoom-in on a stirred cup of coffee transforms it from the mundane to the universe itself.

http://nochedelcazador.files.wordpres s.com/2009/10/werckmeister-harmonies_1_23.jpg

On a similar note, through lighting, the eye of a whale becomes a mysterious nebula in Werckmeister Harmonies.

http://coursedescriptionincluded.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/last-year-at-marienbad-still.jpg

Last Year at Marienbad

Bodies in space become stuck in time, statues part of a larger geometric puzzle.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_BbhzGWD_EOQ/SyI35x7I8BI/AAAAAAAAJLg/jDS2FleJSxY/s400/herzog+fata+morgana+%283%29.jp g

Fata Morgana

Herzog traces the feminine curves of the landscape, effectively sexualizing it.

http://www.horrorphile.net/images/the-fog-the-fog12.jpg

The Fog

Carpenter uses the movement of color to capture the essence of an inevitable and unknowable horror.

http://documentary-review.com/pics/w620.m589566857.jpg

Koyaanisqatsi

Modern existence reduced to an endless string of neon blurs.

[Boner M]

Widening your restriction to dots-and-lines a bit:
NO.

Excellent contributions. I think the scope of this discussion should be widened.

[MacGuffin]

That movie The Ladies' Man looks sick. Great post, Derek.

[Mysterious Dude]

I always liked the final duel in Samurai Spy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_zQVlgBgAA

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/Isaac3159/samurai-spy1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/Isaac3159/samurai-spy2a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/Isaac3159/samurai-spy3.jpg

[Russ]

Can you think of similar & memorable instances of this, where a narrative conflict (or at least the imparting of information) is reduced to few dots or lines on the screen?

How about the opening of Teshigahara’s Woman in the Dunes? It’s basically a series of a half dozen static shots of sand, from the microscopic close-up of a single grain, to the massive wind-swept lines of entire dunes. Especially telling is how the form and shape of the images play an important role in conveying the film’s existential theme of inner conflict: the images begin as abstract (theoretical, complex) and slowly evolve into simple geometric patterns (exact, ordered). In the span of a few seconds, we are shown a narrative overview of the entire film: How do we, as individuals (represented by the extreme close-up of a grain of sand) view our own lives? Can we bring meaning to our existence or, in the grander scheme of things (represented by the oppressive and endless mounds of sand, of which our “grain” is but an insignificant piece) are we bound by some fate, doomed throughout our existence like Sisyphus? Are we shoveling sand to live, or are we living to shovel sand?


http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/8585/dunes1.jpg

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/8961/dunes2.jpg

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/3949/dunes3.jpg

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4454/dunes4.jpg

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/7431/dunes5.jpg

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6160/dunes6.jpg

[Russ]

Also, check this out as a pretty amazing example of this thread's topic:


97dBfdNrf9A&feature=player_embedded#!

[NickGlass]

Oh, Russ. You totally stole my answer of Woman in the Dunes. I couldn't find screenshots--therefore, you are both quicker and more resourceful than me.

[megladon8]

What about the scene in Le Samourai, in the police station, with the constant swinging doors?

I'm sorry, I feel like I'm too dumb for this conversation, but I'm really enjoying following it and wanted to try to contribute.

[Qrazy]

I'm moving away from the dots and lines issue to visual thematic/emotional metaphor through the use of objects and light.


Stalker (Tarkovsky) - Rock falling in well and the Writer's inner torment.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/Member13/stalker/37c1c642.jpg

Blue (Kieslowski) - Sugar cube soaking up coffee. Binoche soaking up pain.

http://neerajghaywan.files.wordpress. com/2009/07/sugar.jpg

Playtime (Tati) - Boxed into modern life.

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9529/vlcsnap22528402jv.jpg

[Russ]

Actually, what with all the Blue Velvet-bashing I've been seeing here lately :crazy:, I would be remiss if I didn't single out Lynch's two shot narrative summation of that film's central conflict, which opens and closes the film's introductory Lumberton prologue. The juxtaposition of these two very brief scenes ominously foreshadow the collision of two very different worlds: the star-spangled wholesome veneer of small town Americana vs. the same town's sordid, hidden underbelly of criminal activity.


http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1039/bv1w.jpg


http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/3712/bv2g.jpg

[balmakboor]

I loved the look of Empire of Passion.

http://cyberpat.com/blog_gifs/empire_passion.jpg
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews45/empire%20of%20passion/800%20empire%20of%20passionPDV D_008.jpg
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews45/empire%20of%20passion/800%20empire%20of%20passionPDV D_011.jpg
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews45/empire%20of%20passion/800%20empire%20of%20passionPDV D_012.jpg