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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

A Wish List

09:35 / 21.05.02

What do you want to see happen in film tv and theatre?

I plead for:

Pure Visual Pleasure: Cinema and TV as Spectacle

Films designed purely to be looked at. No plot, no dialogue. We have eyes (most of us), we have a network of screens (some of them bloody huge) all around the world, and we have the technology, expertise, experience and imagination to create incredible images. Let's make the f***ing most of it.

Simple Explanatory Documentaries about What Goes on in Factories and the Like

There is nothing more pleasing than film of milk bottles going round and round on a milk bottle grabbing machine or biscuits pouring off a conveyor belt as cream is piped onto them. The only people who get to watch such films are kids. Dedicate a whole channel to such films and keep it running 24 hours a day. To have everyday mechanical processes explained in a clear, concise way is good for the brain, especially in these impossibly complicated times.

10:07 / 21.05.02

Saveloy wrote: I plead for:

Pure Visual Pleasure: Cinema and TV as Spectacle

Films designed purely to be looked at. No plot, no dialogue. We have eyes (most of us), we have a network of screens (some of them bloody huge) all around the world, and we have the technology, expertise, experience and imagination to create incredible images. Let's make the f***ing most of it.

Yo, we already got one of those threads w/ a lot of lively debate: over here.

10:32 / 21.05.02

Yeah, but the discussion there is about whether or not the quality of the dialogue matters. I'm asking for something with no scripted dialogue at all. The film equivalent of instrumental music.

The Natural Way

11:06 / 21.05.02

You mean like a pop video?

Like Baraka or Microcosmos?

You're really into 'The Orb', aren't you? Go on....admit it: you love Slash and psychedolphins. Hippy.

11:31 / 21.05.02

Well, pop video is the standard insult used by class-c broadsheet journo fuck-numps to dismiss anything vaguely visually appealing in a film and, hence, anyone who reads too much of that sort of thing, so I guess you're agin' this, right, Mr Nancy fuckin' Mitford? Yes, it could be like a pop video, but without having to conform to the naff lyrics or serve the aspirational pretensions of some twat-faced preening gobshite arse of a pop or rock star, it has the potential to be a lot better.

It doesn't have to be wibbly wobbly abstract stuff. Personally, I could watch a dozen hours of chimneys blowing up and big things crashing into each other. I say, lets have a bit of that without all the literary stuff that's better served by books and radio anyway.

The Natural Way

11:49 / 21.05.02

You'll notice the general jokey tone of my last post....

Or maybe you won't.

As for unpsychedelic: see references to Baraka & Microcosmos.

11:51 / 21.05.02

Sorry mate, the red mist descends whenever I see that pop video thing.

Never heard of Baraka or Microcosmos. What are they, eh?

The Natural Way

13:12 / 21.05.02

Ooooh....

Baraka: Muslim version of "blessing" (but seems it might be closer to "grace"). Film composed of a montage of images from around the world, depicting human comings and goings from Cape Canaverel(sp, obviously) to the Kalahari. Motorways like arteries, satellites beaming information across the global nervous system - earth/humanity as one organism....that kind of stuff. Music by Phil Glass. Can't remember the director - did another flick entilted 'Koyaanisqatsi': same sort of thing.

Microcosmos: a field, its insect population, more music. Nice film. Good stoned.

Anybody got any more?

13:21 / 21.05.02

The classic one that I remember from nipper-hood is an animation made up of stills (mostly photos) which start with the viewer looking down on a family having a picnic in the park. The whole film is two zooms - the first draws back from the park to the edges of the galaxy (taking in all the things you'd find at various altitudes), the second taking you all the way back down to the park, into somebody's arm and on through layers of skin, muscle etc into a molecule and, finally, an atom.

I've got a feeling it was one of them Film Board of Canada jobs - did a lot of great stuff, they did.

The Natural Way

13:29 / 21.05.02

That sounds waaaay nice.

The Natural Way

13:34 / 21.05.02

More!

The Return Of Rothkoid

14:02 / 21.05.02

Baraka: Muslim version of "blessing" (but seems it might be closer to "grace"). Film composed of a montage of images from around the world, depicting human comings and goings from Cape Canaverel(sp, obviously) to the Kalahari. Motorways like arteries, satellites beaming information across the global nervous system - earth/humanity as one organism....that kind of stuff. Music by Phil Glass. Can't remember the director - did another flick entilted 'Koyaanisqatsi': same sort of thing.

*buzzer sound*

Sorry. You're wrong. But you do get our lovely tiepin.

The flick you're thinking of is called Baraka, but you've got it mixed up here. Koyaanisqatsi is the film with the Saturn V rocket test bit in it (spoilers?) and with the "seething mass of humanity" bits. The music is by Phil Glass, as is the movie for the sequel, Powaqaatsi, and the third part of the trilogy, Naqoyqatsi, when it finally gets made. The flicks' titles mean, in order, "crazy life", "life in transformation" and "war life", in Hopi. I've not seen the second (or the third) but the first is genius. Directed by Godfrey Reggio, taking fucking ages to shoot, IIRC, they're rather interesting and strangely affecting, at least for me. The first also predates Baraka -by nine years-, has music by Dead Can Dance, and is directed by Ron Fricke. It's a little more human than Reggio's first film - can't comment on the others - but the score lacks the punch of the Glass pieces...

The Natural Way

14:04 / 21.05.02

Show off.

I saw them about 5 yrs ago and they kinda blurred into one another. I was stoned and on speed at the time (nicer than it sounds).

16:10 / 21.05.02

The National Film Board short that Saveloy refers to is called Powers of Ten.

You can find information about it at the internet movie database. There is also a book available. In addition, here you will find a website devoted to the project, including all the stills from the film and tons of info.

Here's hoping my HTML is ok.

17:07 / 21.05.02

Stan Brakhage

To freak out the film students:
How Stan Brakhage Birthed the Toxic Avenger.

10:09 / 22.05.02

Thanks for the links and suggestions (espec Moriarty) .

Now has anyone else got anything they want to add to the wish list? Any changes you want made, things you want to see in film/theatre/tv culture that you're not currently getting?

The Return Of Rothkoid

09:09 / 23.05.02

Without getting into the whole "dumb masses" debate that periodically circles Barbelith, I'd like to see more widespread acceptance of non-blockbuster films, worldwide. Low-budget, indie, foreign, you name it - I'd love for people to be open to the concept of stuff outside their experience. I reckon it could be done with enough marketing/distribution concern/funding... but will it happen? Hmm.

I'd also love to see the return of the short film or (new) cartoon at the beginning of films. I can't exactly say why, but I really want this.

13:26 / 23.05.02

If my local cable company carried the Independent Film Channel, I might never leave the house.

14:19 / 23.05.02

A film that's been getting a decent amount of press (at least in nyc) is Matthew Barney's 'Cremaster 3'...

'Matthew Barney's CREMASTER series has taken on a legendary stature. This final piece in the 5-part cycle is the longest, densest and most complex -- filled with beautiful, mystifying images, many of them harkening back to themes the artist has already established. Much of the action takes place in two New York landmarks, the Chrysler Building and the Guggenheim Museum, as well as at the Saratoga Racetrack (upstate NY), the Giant's Causeway (Ireland) and Fingal's cave (the Scottish Isle of Staffa). Barney plays the Entered Apprentice and his opponents include the Order of the Rainbow for Girls (who look a lot like the Rockettes), Agnostic Front and Murphy's Law (two New York Hardcore bands), Aimee Mullins, and Richard Serra. Molten Vaseline, dental surgery, a demolition derby by vintage Chrysler Imperial New Yorker cars and a gorgeous creature who is half-cheetah/half woman all figure in this latest edition of Matthew Barney's fever dream.'

Has anyone seen this or any of the previous installments? Got to say it sounds very intriguing. And long (clocks in at just over 3 hours) .

14:20 / 23.05.02

oops, got that off the Film Forum website...

http://www.filmforum.com/cremaster3.html