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Vol. 5 No. 15, May 2001
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Kirill Galetski
Making Avant-Garde Film Accessible
Scott MacDonald
_Avant-Garde Film_
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993
ISBN 0-521-38821-X
199 pp.
The term 'avant-garde' has the connotation of being something surreal,
which is not always the case. The French for vanguard, which traditionally
means 'the foremost position in an army or a fleet advancing into battle',
its secondary definition is 'the foremost or leading position in a trend or
movement, or those occupying a foremost position'. Both definitions bear
weight when applied to filmmaking of a progressive nature.
Scott MacDonald's book _Avant-Garde Film_ asserts that progressive
filmmakers are at the forefront in leading the battle against staid
filmmaking conventions, changing the way films are made, and even
perceived. 'The mainstream cinema (and its sibling television) is so
fundamental a part of our public and private experiences, that even when
filmmakers produce and exhibit alternative cinematic forms, the dominant
cinema is implied by the alternatives' (1), writes MacDonald in his
Introduction.
'No one -- almost certainly no one -- sees avant-garde films without first
having seen mass-market commercial films. In fact, by the time most people
see their first avant-garde film, they have already seen hundreds of films
in commercial theaters and on television, and their sense of what a movie
IS has been almost indelibly imprinted in their conscious and unconscious
minds by their training as children (we learn to appreciate the various
forms of popular cinema from our parents, older siblings and friends) and
by the continual reconfirmation of this training during adolescence and
adulthood.' (1)
_Avant-Garde Film_ is divided into three thematic sections, titled 'From
Stem to Stern', 'Psychic Excursions', and 'Premonitions of a Global
Cinema'. The first section bears the most veiled title. What it seems to
mean for its presented films is that they are through-and-through assaults
on conventional filmmaking standards, using the medium in ways which are
perhaps formalist and technical, but explore areas of human experience
which the medium definitely has not touched upon previously in any way.
'Psychic Excursions' are in the vein of 'classic' avant-garde filmmaking,
as an exploration of the inner workings of somebody's mind, more often than
not the filmmaker's. By 'Global Cinema', MacDonald means the kind of films
that are truly international -- in their cultural scope as well as their
production values.
MacDonald covers a different filmmaker and his or her film(s) in each
chapter. The book elucidates the richness and diversity found in a world of
cinema far removed from run-of-the-mill narrative and confining
conventions. MacDonald's choice of films for review is multi-cultural and
far from obvious, and avoids subjects which have already been amply
described in other books. The filmmakers whose work is covered include
James Benning, Hollis Frampton, Yoko Ono, Yvonne Rainer, Godfrey Reggio,
Michael Snow, and Trinh T. Minh-ha. He does not overly critique the films
but does juxtapose intent and his assessment of the result, leading the
reader to gain an awareness of the sometimes complex issues involved in the
concepts presented. This allows the viewer to gauge his or her own level of
interest before seeing the films, and to draw their own conclusions about
them afterward. He also describes his experiences in viewing the films, an
important factor in the latter considerations. He states: 'My goal is to
provide a way of seeing each film that not only makes what some have
considered difficult work reasonably accessible, but offers a way of using
the films that can energize viewers' experiences with cinema of all kinds.'
(12)
A consistent theme that runs throughout the book is an association of the
intentions of avant-garde filmmakers to the original aims of early
filmmakers. Such cinema pioneers as the Lumiere brothers, with their film
of an arriving train, or Eadwaerd Muybridge, with his motion studies, used
film in a more concrete (and in some cases more rigorous) way than the
theatrical tradition filmmakers that were to follow and eventually dominate
the scene.
The book is painstakingly researched and brings up interesting details,
such as the processes used in arriving at aesthetic choices used in making
the films. Particularly intriguing to read are the chapters devoted to
perhaps the most widely known personalities in the book, Yoko Ono and
Godfrey Reggio. Ono, who is saddled with the fame (or notoriety, depending
on one's opinion) of being John Lennon's widow, has produced artwork of
often questionable talent. However, MacDonald describes her films as
something of a revelation, especially _No. 4 (Bottoms)_, an 80-minute
series of shots of human buttocks made while subjects were walking, with
commentary: '_No. 4 (Bottoms)_ is a comic film,' notes MacDonald, 'that
allows us to laugh at the Big Deal made of human nudity and of the
reproduction of the naked body in conventional film.' (26) MacDonald's
commentary on the film reveals important details worth paying attention to
when watching the film:
'The consistency of the overall organization of _No. 4 (Bottoms)_ can cause
viewers to become complacent and assume there's nothing to see other than
one bottom after another. But while the visuals continue in the same
graphic and temporal arrangement throughout the film, midway through the
film's eighty minutes Ono begins to toy with the viewer's memory, by
repeating some bottoms seen earlier, and passages of commentary heard
earlier. Whereas the repeated sound bits are pretty obvious, the repeated
bottoms are not . . . Once the film develops this mystery . . . the
viewer's relationship with the bottoms becomes more personal: we look not
to see a new bottom, but to see if we 'know' a particular bottom already'
(25-26).
Godfrey Reggio is most well known for his 'qatsi' films, which take their
titles from Hopi Indian words meaning different kinds of life. The
completed films are _Koyaanisqatsi_, meaning 'crazy life' or 'life which
calls for a new way of living', and _Powwaqatsi_, which means 'life in
transformation', and which is a film about life in the 'Third World'.
Without overt commentary, _Powwaqatsi_ shows a variety of people of
different nationalities in various, real-life, occasionally strife-torn
situations. It is probably one of the first instances in cinema history
where the plights of people living in third world countries are brought to
the forefront with sensitive attention. Reggio comments in this regard:
'This sounds very simplistic, but one of the obvious things I noticed was
that in most films the foreground was were the plot and characterization
take place, where the screenplay came in, and how you directed the
photography. Everything was foreground; background (music included)
basically supported characterization and plot. So what I did was try to
eradicate all of the foreground of traditional film, and take the
background, or what's called 'second unit,' and make *that* the foreground,
give *that* principal focus.' (139-140)
This quote is certainly in keeping with MacDonald's explanation of the
third section's theme since he talks of the films therein breaking a
tradition of 'imperialist' filmmaking, in which exotic peoples and locales
serve as a mere backdrop for a narrative that explores concerns of the
'heroes' from developed countries.
Reggio has planned a trilogy, with 'Naqoyqatsi' ('war life'), which is now
in production, completing the series. MacDonald describes Reggio as 'one of
the few American filmmakers I am aware of who has managed to use methods
from this area of film experience for a cultural and cinematic critique
that has attracted a feature film audience of considerable size' (137-138).
MacDonald's choice of Reggio for the book is stimulating, since probably a
lot of viewers and I, for one, are not accustomed to thinking about Reggio
as an avant-garde filmmaker.
Reggio, in turn, had kind words to say about MacDonald's professionalism
(MacDonald has written about Reggio in two of his books, the other being _A
Critical Cinema 2_, the second in a series of interviews with independent
filmmakers): 'MacDonald spent a lot of time with me', declared Reggio in a
recent interview for _The St Petersburg Times_, 'he's someone who really
does his homework.' [1] MacDonald interprets the films as being highly
conceptual, and explains the technical nuances where the film's concepts
delve deep into filmmaking technology, such as in J. J. Murphy's _Print
Generation_ and Morgan Fisher's _Standard Gauge_.
The book is adequately illustrated with black and white stills and frames,
which are sometimes crucial to the understanding of the more visually and
aurally complex films in the selection. James Benning's film _American
Dreams_ is a primary example, where the visual elements in the film are a
chronological 'slide show' of memorabilia associated with baseball star
Hank Aaron, and a rolling text which is a running monologue, a diary of a
macho baseball fan from Milwaukee with whom many viewers can easily
identify until he starts to show homicidal tendencies. The soundtrack is a
mixture of oldies and radio commentary on historical events.
MacDonald's writing style is readable throughout, and is intelligent
without being overly academic. The book has a very non-standard selection
of films, even on avant-garde terms. It eschews an exploration of such
well-known avant-garde film luminaries as Stan Brakhage, Maya Deren and
Kenneth Anger. It mentions them only in passing, in the first chapter. I
think that a book with such a general, all-encompassing title as
'Avant-Garde Film' should have gone more in-depth about these filmmakers,
perhaps offering individual chapters on their work as well. MacDonald
probably reasoned that there had been much written about Deren, Anger and
others of their caliber, and decided he had different fish to fry.
While being thorough in terms of its production research, the book lacks
enough biographical detail on a lot of the filmmakers, which could have
probably provided additional insight into their respective visions.
The book would probably be best appreciated when the films it mentions are
available for viewing. A filmography in the back of the book dutifully
provides sources for all of the films mentioned in the book, not just the
ones discussed in great detail. Since MacDonald is a film history teacher,
he knows how to write a good 'textbook', and _Avant-Garde Film_ could also
serve as great material for a film appreciation course of the same name.
St Petersburg, Russia
Footnote
1. From an unpublished conversation. For the published interview see:
Kirill Galetski, Interview with Godfrey Reggio, _The St Petersburg Times_,
no. 585, 14 July 2000
<http://www.sptimes.ru/secur/585/features/art_filmmaker.htm>; accessed 7
May 2001.
Filmography (by book section)
From Stem to Stern
_No. 4 (Bottoms)_: Yoko Ono (UK 1966).
_Wavelength_: Michael Snow (US 1967).
_Serene Velocity_: Ernie Gehr (US 1970).
_Print Generation_: J. J. Murphy (US 1974).
_Standard Gauge_: Morgan Fisher (US 1984).
Psychic Excursions
_Zorns Lemma_: Hollis Frampton (US 1970).
_Riddles of the Sphinx_: Laura Mulvey, Peter Wollen (UK 1977).
_American Dreams_: James Benning (US 1984).
_The Ties That Bind_: Sue Friedrich (US 1984).
_From the Pole to the Equator_: Yervant Gianikian, Angela Ricci Lucchi
(Italy 1987).
Premointions of a Global Cinema
_The Carriage Trade_: Warren Sonbert (US 1973).
_Powwaqatsi_: Godfrey Reggio (US 1988).
_Naked Spaces -- Living is Round_: Trinh T. Minh-ha (US 1985).
_Journeys From Berlin / 1971_: Yvonne Rainer (US. 1979).
_The Journey_: Peter Watkins (Canada, 1987).
Copyright © _Film-Philosophy_ 2001
Kirill Galetski, 'Making Avant-Garde Film Accessible', _Film-Philosophy_,
vol. 5 no. 15, May 2001
<http://www.film-philosophy.com/vol5-2001/n15galetski>.
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