Week 3 Films

Le Retour á raison (1923) Man Ray

At first I felt very uncomfortable watching this. The assault of the images and the sounds made me feel trapped and uneasy. I understand the importance of art that physically affects you, but, personally, I value beauty above everything in art.  While the images were interesting, it felt like Man Ray just threw everything in.

Emak-Bakia (1926) Man Ray

This had some beautiful visuals that stuck with me, like the play of lights and the rotating words in a black void. But my favorite part was when he entered surreal territory—the transition from the person in the bedroom to the beach felt so natural and dreamlike. I also loved the shots he had of the fish swimming from below. It was a relief to see recognizable visuals.

Entr’acte (1924) Rene Clair

I enjoyed the sense of humor in this film. The opening with the men jumping in slow motion is still funny today; same with all the people running in their finery in slow motion. I think I also enjoyed the runaway hearse part because I didn't have to try to figure out how it made sense.

Symphonie Diagonale (1924) Viking Eggeling

While I appreciated the planning that went into the animation, this type of visual is really not my cup of tea. I felt that the lines and shapes were too dated and not aesthetically appealing.

Blood of the Poet (1930) Cocteau

I loved this film! I felt like I had a lot in common with Cocteau’s visual taste. The elements of antiquity and the romantic era—laurels, wigs, etc.—combined with “contemporary” dress appealed to my love of period pieces, traditional art, and conflicting imagery. And it totally captured the feeling of moving sluggishly in a dream the way that the main character half-crawled along the hotel hallway. It was delightfully macabre too. I loved how the boy’s gunshot wound was a pentagram.

Anemic Cinema (1924-1926) Duchamp/Ray

It’s very hard to separate this film from the music that was added to it. If not for the music, I might’ve entered a trance more readily or felt like I was going a little crazy. However, because of the soft guitar music I found each new segment very relaxing and oddly started attaching emotion to the circles.

Ballet Méchanique (1924) Leger

I enjoyed this film but not that much stands out in my memory. I thought the visual of the woman swinging upside down was beautiful and I thought it was interesting how the wine glasses become flat from their overrepresentation.

Un Chein Andolu (1929) Dali and Buñuel

The whole time I was watching this, I just felt like, “WHAT?” But then I realized how awesome it is that something that seems to make no sense was actually very carefully planned and executed and it held my interest the entire time. I really like the surreal films we’ve seen.