a visual symphony.

Perhaps it was because we watched it first, perhaps it was just the simplest, relatively, for me to grasp; at any rate, Walter Ruttman's "Lichtspiel Opus 1" forced itself a place in my mind more forcefully than any other film we watched last Thursday. Watching the Light Opus, I did not feel affronted, forced to face an inner part of myself as the other films did; rather, I felt invited, asked to slip into the subconscious for a while. I have always been a big fan of music, and I felt while watching the Light Opus that Ruttman had indeed blended the two, light through cinema in perfect harmony with the music. Ruttman, essentially, captured the visual existence of a symphony, in my opinion. On the other end of the spectrum, the film I felt most bizarrely intrigued (and almost, in a way, violated) by was Luis Buñel and Salvador Dali’s “Un Chien Andalou.” At times I did not know whether to be put off by what I saw or laugh hysterically; either way, the film left me far from the serenity placed in me by “Lichtspiel Opus.” And I am sure it has already been mentioned, but of course, I could not help but remember the Pixies song "Debaser." (click to watch!)