AIMLESS WALK (1930)
via Alexandr Hackenschmied
Focus: feet (not fetishized as in L’Age d’Or).
Elevated,
finally, the standing observer
on train and then off, running
where to
disappear down stairs.
Camera down / stares
overhead. Bank/water.
Stops to lean on bridge over exotic pattern
imposed on body
of water.
Then, fishing, solo/joined.
Shot lying alone in field, smoking. Joined.
Walking on water as if ceiling suspended.
Written during my first viewing of this silent film without
intertitles, billed as the “first Czech avant-garde film”,
but not as the first work by a filmmaker now best known
for his collaboration with Maya Deren on “Meshes of
the Afternoon” (under the name she wished him to
assume, “Sasha Hammid”).
After four revisions I counted the number of lines and
was surprised to discover a sonnet, of the 6/8 variety.
I certainly didn’t revise towards such a final result.
Nor was I able to place the director in film history until
writing this note; I went to the screening and trusted
my instincts/memory. The writing process felt different
as well: where did the words come from?
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