The Cinematic Formula: Hollis Frampton (Experimental Revival)

Doc Films (University of Chicago) — Monday, 7pm  
Watching any one of Hollis Frampton's structuralist masterpieces takes commitment and patience, but seeing six of them in a row? That's either going to lead to an inspired collective mental breakthrough or the first theater-wide brain-eye melt of the spring. Focusing on Frampton's output from the 1960's, the highlights of this program are ARTIFICIAL LIGHT (1966) and MANUAL OF ARMS (1969). Each film is silent and uses the hypnotic pattern of visual repetition and textural optic variation, a mode that would be perfected in the next decade. But if the creation of an internal cinematic language is the goal in some of his later work, then these two films celebrate the inclusiveness of the human gesture. In MANUAL, various performances for the camera by 14 "actors" walk the line between over-indulgence and rhythmic serendipity, always tripping towards joy eventually. Body movement from one edge of the frame to the other and an emphasis on the light/dark dichotomy of black-and-white film emphasize each beat, and the difference between the 14 sections is like the same note played on a different instrument. Sequential fades from one face to another create the content of ARTIFICIAL LIGHT, and 21 repetitions of the sequence make the form. After the first round (which is shown upside-down), a variety of interventions are performed: negative, hand-drawn clown makeup, still shots in sequence, a flicker of colors, and so on. At each variation, despite the film's formulaic premise, or perhaps because of it, an ascending tone is struck as faces emerge from the chaos, glances are exchanged, and the power of the close-up is realized. Also Screening: HETERODYNE (1967), PALINDROME (1969), STATES (1967), and SURFACE TENSION (1968). (1966-69, 98 min total, 16mm) JH - Cine-File.info