This 13 minute short film is from "American Film Treasures/Avant Garde Film: Disc 1"--a compilation of mostly forgotten art films of the 20th century. This DVD set is NOT for the casual viewer and sometimes I wonder why I watched the films--as some of them were VERY artsy and weird! Stan Brakhage made almost 400 films--in a wide range of formats. This particular one, "The Riddle of Lumen", is about how life is transformed by light. The clips were pieced together from film stock Brakhage filmed over the years and it is silent. Much of the footage appears to be film you would normally discard--odd snippets of poorly filmed stock. But, as I am just an ordinary guy who doesn't understand art, it all has some deeper significance...I think. All I know is that I just didn't appreciate the very random nature of it all--even for an art film.
2 Reviews
Poetry forged by light
classicsoncall27 October 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Director Stan Brakhage thought of his films as poetry forged by light. This short takes light as it's subject, with images that show how the every day world is transformed by illumination. At least that's the working theory, but if you watch it, what you'll see are random placements of such things as trees, grass, sky, a face, car headlights moving in the dark, a kid's wagon sitting in the snow, vapor trails from a plane, and a reclining, nude woman's body. There's also a murky shot of a kid seen playing through a hole in a hedge. Can anyone see where I'm going with this? Think about it for a minute.
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