The narrative purports to deal with the barbaric exploits of Attila The Hun (an appropriately brooding if unsympathetic figure throughout)…and, yet, none of the characters ever leave the remote seaside stretch of land on which the film is set or do much of anything – with the ensuing moralizing interrupted only by the occasional (and equally obscure) music-infused rites! …..
by Mario GauciRead More »
Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive Art
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Miklós Jancsó – La Tecnica e il rito (1972)
1971-1980Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtDramaItalyMiklós Jancsó -
Tony Conrad – The Flicker (1965)
Tony Conrad1961-1970Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtExperimentalUSA -
Aleksandr Dovzhenko – Arsenal [1972 Edit] (1929)
1921-1930Aleksandr DovzhenkoAmos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtDramaUSSRWarQuote:
Set in the bleak aftermath and devastation of the World War I, a recently demobbed soldier, Timosh, returns to his hometown Kiev, after having survived a train wreck. His arrival coincides with a national celebration of Ukrainian freedom, but the festivities are not to last as a disenchanted.Read More » -
Coni Beeson – Unfolding (1970)
Coni Beeson1961-1970Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtEroticaExperimentalUSAQuote:
Through a series of dream-like episodes, UNFOLDING suggests universal awareness—aloneness, fantasies, searching, touching, loving. In the vague suggestion of a story, nature and sea mix with hints of legend, ritual, and poetry. UNFOLDING becomes one’s own folklore of imaginings. Double and triple exposure blend ocean, hills, sun, woman, and man, to portray subterranean feelings, ethereal feelings, the freeing of self, in loving and lovemaking, culminating in orgasm.Read More » -
Fumio Kamei – Ikiteite yokatta AKA It Is Good to Live (1956)
Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtDocumentaryFumio KameiJapanShort FilmFrom Amos Vogel’s Film as a Subversive Art:
This is one of the first documentary films about the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It coldly records the lingering effects of the bomb on the victims decades later. In a succession of realistic, shocking sequences, their lives, difficulties, and camaraderie are examined. The very objectivity of incidents, scenes, and faces makes the film the more terrifying.Read More » -
Werner Herzog – Lebenszeichen AKA Signs of Life (1968)
Werner Herzog1961-1970Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtArthouseDramaGermany“A soldier is assigned to guard a fortress on a remote Greek island and finds himself unable to cope with the crushing boredom of the task in this interesting drama, an early film by renowned-director Werner Herzog. The story is set during WW II and concerns a soldier who was wounded and stationed on the Nazi-controlled island. He is accompanied by his wife and two other guards. It is a very quiet island and soon the men begin looking for constructive things to do. First they paint houses. Then they try raising goats. One of them finds a small stockpile of explosives, so the men begin making bombs. Another of the men can read Greek and so begins translating some of the ancient inscriptions on the castle walls.Read More »
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Gunvor Nelson – Kirsa Nicholina (1969)
Gunvor Nelson1961-1970Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtShort FilmUSAKirsa Nicholina records the birth of a child at home by the Lamaze method. The father assists in the birth, while a physician guides him. At the moment of birth, the mother reaches down and grasps the hand of the emerging child and guides it out of her body and into her arms.Read More »
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Fred Baker – Events (1970)
1961-1970Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtCultDramaFred BakerUSAEvents is about a young filmmaker, Ryan, who wants to complete a documentary on Lenny Bruce, decides to raise the needed money by shooting a weekend of porno films enlisting the help of his friends.Read More »
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Jerzy Skolimowski – Rysopis AKA Identification Marks: None (1965)
Jerzy Skolimowski1961-1970Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtArthouseDramaPolandQuote:
Jerzy Skolimowski’s debut is a combination of short student films made over the 4 years he spent at the Film School in Łódź. Identification Marks: None is the first instalment in the story about Andrzej Leszczyc, played by the director himself.Read More »