Last Week

I really liked both of the short films that we saw last thursday. Robert Breer's use of color, shape, and rhythm was really intriguing to me. Especially with "Recreation," the fast pace and bright colors paired with the strange nonsensical voice over kept me actively involved with the film for the entire duration (which admittedly wasn't that long, but I feel like I could've watched much, much more) I may or may not have been "seeing" during the film, as I was strangely happy and I felt the sensory overload that Breer intended. The ultimate goal of pleasure was reached with me. Breer's less colorful and slower piece "A Man and His Dog Out For Air" was also really enjoyable to me. The simple flow of shapes in and out of each other in a very organic and fluid manner was really relaxing. I like that these films were not geared toward having a deeper meaning. It seems like we were allowed to see the playful, fun side of art instead of the dense and intellectual side for once. In that way I guess they really are like Felix the Cat: nonsensical and fun. Not to say that these films don't have any intellectual merit, because they obviously do or we wouldn't be studying them. I also thought it was interesting that we made the comparison in class between Breer and artists like Eggeling, because I had the opposite reaction to "Symphonie Diagonale" I thought it was dull and life less. Its weird how experimenting with shape, size and rhythm in a film can yield such different results.