White Light Cinema at The Nightingale - Friday, Dec 18th, 8pm
Without question the most ambitious
undertaking of his ongoing career, Klahr's 12 film series has never
before screened in its entirety in Chicago. Trafficking in the noir
that has is now the familiar backward looking lens at the Eisenhower-Kennedy
era, Klahr has a genuine affection for the collection of visual elements
that populate his fragmented narratives. Produced over four years, from
1988-1991, these films whisper the claustrophobic outcomes of a childhood
shaped by shopping malls and two car garages, and shout the angst of
Nicholas Ray's best characters. More than this they are about the unfulfilled
dreams of an exuberant nation, fueled by cheap gasoline and atomic energy,
ready to change the world through technology and righteousness. Through
the domesticity of the Super-8mm medium Klahr's cutout animation is
made personal through delicate juxtaposition and detail, and his careful
camerawork leads us through the often-convoluted logic of his symbols.
Incorporating both original and found music, short clips of dialog and
authentic ambient noise, he is able to immerse the viewer in a mood-colored
world of simultaneous possibility and failure. Rarely is the intellectual
exercise of evaluating one's society so effortless. (1988-1991, 131
mins total, Super-8mm on video) JH - Cine-File.info
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Hollis Frampton: Birth of Magellan (Experimental)
Chicago Filmmakers - Saturday, 8pm
As the third installment of the ongoing retrospective series CRITICAL MASS: RE-VIEWING HOLLIS FRAMPTON, Chicago Filmmakers will be presenting fragments of the artists' fabled MAGELLAN CYCLE. Intended to consist of 1000 films totaling roughly 36 hours to be viewed over 369 days, it is "like a tour of the possible principles for forming an encyclopedia," according to Frampton. Seen outside of their original context and because of their frequent structural density, the individual pieces are sometimes challenging (though not always), and one can only imagine what the experience of seeing them as short shots of wisdom day after day after day would have been like. It is likely that the casual viewer will have difficulty parsing the subtleties of each piece, but that is only because it is easy to dig too deep to find meaning. But they can be appreciated on many different levels. The simplicity of the structure in CADENZAS I & XIV (1980, 11 min, 16mm) revolves around gentle juxtapositions of sound and image, and a building of meaning from one visual to the next. The trick here is that what looks like a bold sexual metaphor is really a joke about sexual metaphors in poetic filmmaking, complete with laugh track. In MINDFALL I & VII (1977-80, 36 min, 16mm) the visuals are more complex, with groups being repeated and played like alternating chord structures. As they build on one another, and refrains are recognized, the often superimposed and out-of-synch imagery vibrates like a plucked string. From my viewing notes: cactus, tropical plants, ping-pong, water, religious symbols, Geiger counter, three kings, Frampton's shadow, applause. Also screening: MATRIX (1977, 28 min, 16mm) JH - Cine-File.info
As the third installment of the ongoing retrospective series CRITICAL MASS: RE-VIEWING HOLLIS FRAMPTON, Chicago Filmmakers will be presenting fragments of the artists' fabled MAGELLAN CYCLE. Intended to consist of 1000 films totaling roughly 36 hours to be viewed over 369 days, it is "like a tour of the possible principles for forming an encyclopedia," according to Frampton. Seen outside of their original context and because of their frequent structural density, the individual pieces are sometimes challenging (though not always), and one can only imagine what the experience of seeing them as short shots of wisdom day after day after day would have been like. It is likely that the casual viewer will have difficulty parsing the subtleties of each piece, but that is only because it is easy to dig too deep to find meaning. But they can be appreciated on many different levels. The simplicity of the structure in CADENZAS I & XIV (1980, 11 min, 16mm) revolves around gentle juxtapositions of sound and image, and a building of meaning from one visual to the next. The trick here is that what looks like a bold sexual metaphor is really a joke about sexual metaphors in poetic filmmaking, complete with laugh track. In MINDFALL I & VII (1977-80, 36 min, 16mm) the visuals are more complex, with groups being repeated and played like alternating chord structures. As they build on one another, and refrains are recognized, the often superimposed and out-of-synch imagery vibrates like a plucked string. From my viewing notes: cactus, tropical plants, ping-pong, water, religious symbols, Geiger counter, three kings, Frampton's shadow, applause. Also screening: MATRIX (1977, 28 min, 16mm) JH - Cine-File.info
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