Brakhage

In retrospect, the title Anticipation of the Night seems to fit in perfectly. All of the sad and depressing parts of this film seem to lead up to and eventual destructive end. I thought that there were some truly beautiful parts to the film. I love the idea that this was lyrical film, like that of poetry. Whereas most films are told in third person by showing the main characters on-screen, this film was told in first person with the main character being the man who perceived what was on-screen. Even beyond that, the film approached a more modern sense of art with what seemed to be stream of consciousness or mental associations.

With Dog Star Man I'm not sure I was on the correct page with everything. To me, the film seemed like the visualization of the big bang, with sheer darkness and then a gradual explosion of color and shape. But there was also actual footage of more basic things that were deformed to create this effect. Considering the title, the film could be seen as visualization of a dog, star, and man individually. Dogs have a connotation of being low while stars are high up in the sky. Man is somewhat a medium in this respect. Perhaps some universal commentary on the wide range of existence in the world is what the message was. I'm not sure.

I thought the Intercourse one was also pretty cool. I saw it as the rewinding or going back through time of a relationship. The initial sequences were kind of depressing and grotesque. But as the film went on, eventually the characters appeared to smile more and the overall tone shifted to happier times before the relationship turned stale.