65/365 - March 16

Film: Lovesong (2001)
Directors: Stan Brakhage
Mini Review: Brakhage called this “a hand-painted visualization of sex in the mind’s eye”, and while there is something about the rhythms and shapes created by the hand-painted frames of the film that is suggestive of sex, this almost doesn’t matter as this functions just as well as another of Brakhage’s pieces of pure aesthetics.

Rating: 9/10

64/365 - March 16

Film: The Dante Quartet (1987)
Directors: Stan Brakhage
Mini Review: Brakhage’s visual interpretation of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Surprise, Brakhage does it again!

Rating: 9/10

63/365 - March 15

Film: House (1977)
Directors: Nobuhiko Ōbayashi
Mini Review: Pretty much the craziest shit ever. The purposefully “bad” tone and deliciously garish aesthetics of the film are a joy to behold, and the anything goes visual style is one of the most unique I have ever seen in any film. House simply oozes with self-aware unabashed movieness. The insane inanity of the proceedings belies the serious subtext of the film, namely the fear of menstruation and adulthood experienced in the liminal stage of a schoolgirl’s life in which she is, to quote a pop music classic, “not a girl, not yet a woman”. Additionally, there is a narrated monologue at the very end of the film that is surprisingly moving, albeit somewhat melodramatic and cheesy. Overall, the film’s thematic and aesthetic concerns seem to be informed by everything from Hanna-Barbera cartoons to gialli, and to prefigure the rise of a host of filmmakers including Lynch, Araki, Tarantino, Kon, Raimi, and Waters. House truly has to be seen to be believed, and who knows, maybe like me you’ll love it so much you’ll go out and buy it and watch it a second time with a friend a mere three days after first seeing it, only to find you love it more.

Rating: 10/10

62/365 - March 15

Film: Les statues meurent aussi (1953)
Directors: Chris Marker, Alain Resnais & Ghislain Cloquet
Mini Review: Resnais and Marker’s distinct voices are both already clearly visible here, and unsurprisingly meld together really well, but at the same time, the film definitely feels like it’s just a Marker film overall. A fascinating and poetic filmic essay involving African art, anthropology, memory, and colonialism.

Rating: 8/10

61/365 - March 15

Film: Delicacies of Molten Horror Synapse (1991)
Directors: Stan Brakhage
Mini Review: Certainly one of Brakhage’s greatest masterpieces, as well as one of his most underrated films, and by far my favourite of his from what I’ve seen thus far.

Rating: 10/10

Film: Study in Color and Black and White (1993)
Directors: Stan Brakhage
Mini Review: Yet another great “painted light” piece from Brakhage.

Rating: 8/10

59/365 - March 15

Film: Eye Myth (1967)
Directors: Stan Brakhage
Mini Review: The best film ever with a running time under ten seconds? Probably.

Rating: 8/10

58/365 - March 15

Film: The Garden of Earthly Delights (1981)
Directors: Stan Brakhage
Mini Review: What might be called a found-object(s) film, and intended as a both an homage to and response to the classic painting of the same name by Hieronymus Bosch, this is among the very best Brakhage films I’ve seen. Absolutely mesmerizing imagery.

Rating: 9/10

57/365 - March 15

Film: Commingled Containers (1997)
Directors: Stan Brakhage
Mini Review: A love letter of sorts to nature, life, and the eponymous “containers” that make up these things. It was intended as a possible final film from Brakhage if he died during a medical procedure he was going to be undergoing the day after he completed it, and it would not have been a bad film to end his career on, as it is definitely a great one.

Rating: 8/10

56/365 - March 15

Film: Rage Net (1988)
Directors: Stan Brakhage
Mini Review: Brakhage’s visual representation of rage. Another accomplished and beautiful one of his painted films.

Rating: 8/10