By Brakhage - Anthology - Criterion Collection
by Stan Brakhage
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Actor: Bearthm Brakhage, Jane Brakhage, Myrrena Brakhage, Neowyn Brakhage, Stan BrakhageDirector: Stan Brakhage
Brand: Image Entertainment
Cinematographer: Jane Brakhage
Cinematographer: Stan Brakhage
Editor: Stan Brakhage
Producer: Stan Brakhage
Writer: Stan Brakhage
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 243 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-06-10
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Criterion
DVD Reviews of By Brakhage - Anthology - Criterion Collection
DVD Review: A Work of Art
Summary: 4 Stars
The late Stan Brakhage was an artist, a poet, and a filmmaker with a lengthy filmography of short films. Brakhage did not work anywhere near the mainstream and his films aren't so much "films" as they are "art." Brakhage abandoned any sort of convention and narrative in favor of making groundbreaking, highly experimental films. He would paint directly onto film, paste moth wings onto it, and/or purposefully scratch or maim the film in some way, which has become a relatively common practice.
The Criterion Collection presents 26 of Brakhage's films here, spread out over two-discs and featuring video interviews with Brakhage as well as audio comments on nearly all his films.
Disc one features four films. The first, "Desistfilm," is fascinating due to the fact it was made from gun camera film dating back to WWII. "Wedlock House: An Intercourse" is a meditation on marriage and features sex between Brakhage and his wife. It's pretty far from pornographic though. "Dog Star Man" is his longest film at an hour and fifteen minutes. Many call it a masterpiece; I don't know what to call it. It pretty much combines all the defining elements of Brakhage's other films into a mini-movie. Finally, there's "The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes," which consists entirely of real autopsy footage and takes its name from the literal definition of "autopsy." It's a very graphic, horrifying look at what happens to the human body after death. It shows what a brave filmmaker Brakhage was, but is very difficult to watch. Even harder is getting the images out of your memory once you've seen them.
Disc two is much different from disc one and features 22 more Brakhage films, including "Eye Myth," Brakhage's shortest at only 9 seconds long. This disc also features "Window Water Baby Moving," a sensitive look at Brakhage's wife giving birth to his child. It's a work of art, but not the most pleasant thing to watch. "Mothlight" is the fascinating, 3-minute film where Brakhage pasted moth wings to the actual film. "Kindering" is haunting, almost like Brakhage managed to film a dream. "I...Dreaming" is probably my favorite of his work. It's hypnotic, poetic, and beautiful.
From "The Dante Quartet" (which, by the way, is simultaneously beautiful and grotesque) on, the films are mostly of the painted variety. "Study in Color and Black and White" is basically the film adaptation of what you see when you close your eyes, "Stellar" is much of the same thing but still effective, and "Commingled Containers" has moments of true beauty.
As much as I appreciate these as art, I have to say that watching videos of painted film does get rather repetitive. Many start to feel no different from the previous one.
From watching these, it seems to me that Brakhage existed in a much different universe from us common folk. I'd be lying if I said I understood everything he created. As Brakhage was a poet, I'm sure there's something much deeper beneath the surface of these films.
These are definitely not for everyone however. I was never bored with these films, but I was never exactly entertained either. If you're an impatient viewer, I'd recommend you stay away from these films. Having said that, they're not meant to be entertaining; which is probably what saves them from being a total bore. These are small, abstract pieces of (mostly silent) film presented more as art than cinema. Brakhage clearly had an intensely unique vision and I applaud the man for being absolutely fearless in expressing his creative vision the way he wanted to. While Brakhage's films are relatively influential and may have provided the framework for films like A Scanner Darkly, I've never seen anything like them. Not the best thing I've ever watched and, as I said, it does get repetitive at times; but this entire set is a masterwork.
GRADE: B
DVD Review: Brakhage Breaks On Through
Summary: 5 Stars
Filmmaker Stan Brakhage understood that what our mind 'sees' is not all that is there, that there is something beyond the consensus reality we accept unquestioningly. In many of his films, he sought to create a cinematic experience that he referred to as "fetal perception", a visual experience without familiar objects, without memory, with no narrative and without sound, a perception without our habitual conceptual framework. A number of the films in this wonderful 24-film set are simply awe-inspiring in their ability to cause viewers to see light in a new way, to break through familiar perceptions into another dimension of seeing. Films like "Stellar", "The Garden of Earthly Delights", "Glaze of Cathexis" and "Black Ice" cause words to just shut off. Language becomes an encumbrance when watching Brakhage's hand-painted films, as words cannot go where these remarkable works can take us. Highly recommended. DVD Review: rhythm ritual: approaching the invisible frontier
Summary: 4 Stars
Stan Brakhage is cut from the same cloth as the New York painters. His primary influence was Jackson Pollock and Pollocks presence (his color palette and his trance-like rhythms) can be felt throughout Brakhage's work.
Pollock was often called a shaman. Brakhage, however, didn't wait around for others to call him a shaman; instead he initiated this myth about himself by creating Dog Star Man, a film in which he presents himself as a kind of mountain mystic involved in all kinds of psychic and physical travails.
Whether you are drawn to this myth or not is inconsequential because Brakhages true accomplishment is his unique rhythmic style which is achieved by filming with small hand held cameras that capture the motion (and draw attention to the physicality and subjectivity) of the one holding it. The French New Wave auteurs were known for their quick cuts but Brakhage's rapid-motion camera work & rapid-fire cutting and editing that constantly undermine our urge to establish a consistent and stable point of view and narrative makes the New Wavers look like old schoolers. I think its this rhythmic filming & editing style that makes a Brakhage film so wildly psychotic and so different from any other.
How important Brakhage is depends upon how much importance you place on this contribution. Loads of MTV videos (from Tom Tom Club to Nine Inch Nails) make use of Brakhage's hand held filming and editing style. I think the intention of this style is to break up old patterns of thought and to search for new ones. Like many avant-garde auteurs Brakhage uses alternative processes to explore alternative ways to process the world. I am not particularly drawn to the idea of artist as shaman but I am drawn to the idea that new mediums provide us with new research tools.
I won't call him a shaman but I will call him one of the most interesting psychic researchers of the 1960's.
To address the reason why so few Brakhage films of the 1970's were included here my hunch is that Brakhage experienced a kind of creative dormancy while pop art and minimalism dominated the art scene and a renewal of his creative energies during the expressionist revival of the 1980's.
DVD Review: By Brakhage
Summary: 5 Stars
An excellent collection of work by one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Most of Brakhage's admirers will be quick to point out that the DVD format is inherently deficient (Brakhage was an experimental filmmaker, and explored film's inherent, physical characteristics and opportunities to splendorous degree). It is a facsimile experience, not a full-fledged film screening. BUT we don't all have the means to obtain the films and the venue and rights to do a screening. For those of us who don't live in a community with those opportunities, this DVD is pretty great.
As much as it's possible, Brakhage's films make you feel alive, aware of your senses, your desires, and your brain. Watch them in a dark room with a few friends who can watch a film with no sound and keep their traps shut.
DVD Review: Sorry, no police cars flipping over here. Move along.
Summary: 5 Stars
For some reason, I really, really like handpainted films, so for me this set is an essential and cherished part of my DVD collection. "The Dante Quartet" and "The Black Tower" are simply beautiful. Wish I could see them projected ...
If you're not familiar with Brakhage's work, rent before you buy. He's an acquired taste.
Description of By Brakhage - Anthology - Criterion Collection
Working completely outside the mainstream, Stan Brakhage has made nearly 400 films over the past half century. Challenging all taboos in his exploration of "birth, sex, death, and the search for God," Brakhage has turned his camera on explicit lovemaking, childbirth, even actual autopsy. Many of his most famous works pursue the nature of vision itself and transcend the act of filming. Some, including the legendary Mothlight, were made without using a camera at all. Instead, Brakhage has pioneered the art of making images directly on film itself--starting with clear leader or exposed film, then drawing, painting, and scratching it by hand. Treating each frame as a miniature canvas, Brakhage can produce only a quarter- to a half-second of film a day, but his visionary style of image-making has changed everything from cartoons and television commercials to MTV music videos and the work of such mainstream moviemakers as Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, and Oliver Stone.Criterion is proud to present 26 masterworks by Stan Brakhage in high-definition digital transfers made from newly minted film elements. For the first time on DVD, viewers will be able to look at Brakhage's meticulously crafted frames one by one.
While you go out to see most other kinds of movies, you must go inward to see the extraordinary avant-garde films of Stan Brakhage. Foremost among American experimental film artists, Brakhage influenced the evolution of the moving image for nearly 50 years (his impact is readily seen on MTV), and this meticulously prepared Criterion Collection anthology represents a virtual goldmine of Brakhage's finest, most challenging work. Challenging because--as observed by Brakhage film scholar Fred Camper in the accompanying booklet--these 26 carefully selected films require the viewer to be fully receptive to "the act of seeing with one's own eyes" (to quote the title of one film, consisting entirely of autopsy footage), which is to say, open to the perceptual and psychological responses that are provoked by Brakhage's non-narrative shorts, ranging here from nine seconds to 31 minutes in length. While "Dog Star Man" (1961-64) is regarded as Brakhage's masterpiece, what emerges from this superb collection is the creative coherence of Brakhage's total vision. Through multilayered textures (often painted or scratched directly on film) and infinite combinations of imagery and rhythmic cutting, these films (most of them soundless) represent the most daring and purely artistic fulfillment of Criterion's ongoing goal to preserve important films on DVD. --Jeff Shannon
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