(Contains spoilers, in as much as you can give spoilers for a non-narrative film.) At first it seems to be an exploration of symmetry. The screen's divided into quadrants (originally meant to be projected separately but now amalgamated on 35mm), with a vertical line of symmetry down the centre. Initially I was perturbed by the slight overlap between the images on the left and right sides, then about fifteen minutes in, the symmetry itself started to become oppressive. Eventually I became desensitised to this, and started to notice patterns and quirks - for example, movement out from the centre tended to be gentle and lyrical, while movement towards the centre tended to be chaotic - that may or may not have actually been there. Soon I started to get wrapped up in the imagery, especially the abstract animation - pigments or is it chalk dust getting mixed on the floor; monochrome spirals that special effects guys on Fifties sci-fi films would've wet themselves over. Then the following happened, not necessarily in this order: the spirals reversed; the first act (of three) of the Brecht/Weill opera that plays throughout ended; and the symmetry finally broke, and I h ad to restrain myself from clapping out of relief.
Ironically things went downhill from there, as any remaining structure only ever existed in Harry Smith's fertile imagination. Sick of endless shots of geometrically arranged plastic shapes, and even worse, trees, I took a long drinks break in the lobby. When I returned, I was initially amused by the right pair of images being identical except for a short time delay - about as close as film can get to a literal exploration of resonance. This got boring pretty quick, though. Eventually this finished, and we got the big scenes - the sequence shown in reverse showing the (again literal) deconstruction of a pile of junk on the floor. And Patti Smith. And that was it.
In summary, Brecht and Weill should've seen this coming and written a one-and-a-half act opera. (**1/2)
Ironically things went downhill from there, as any remaining structure only ever existed in Harry Smith's fertile imagination. Sick of endless shots of geometrically arranged plastic shapes, and even worse, trees, I took a long drinks break in the lobby. When I returned, I was initially amused by the right pair of images being identical except for a short time delay - about as close as film can get to a literal exploration of resonance. This got boring pretty quick, though. Eventually this finished, and we got the big scenes - the sequence shown in reverse showing the (again literal) deconstruction of a pile of junk on the floor. And Patti Smith. And that was it.
In summary, Brecht and Weill should've seen this coming and written a one-and-a-half act opera. (**1/2)
