Picasso, Matisse, Cezanne, Chagall, Braque, Warhol, Rothko, Kandinsky, de Kooning, Motherwell, Nevelson, Pollock, Miro, Duchamp, Calder, Ernst, Richter, Beuys, Giocometti, Klee, and on. Hosted by Orson Welles. Directed by Herbert Kline. It’s great because there are so many of the artists speaking for themselves.
Author Archives: Cimaxion
Monologue Under White Light! – A Film by Samira Eskandarfar
A ravishing beauty from Iran! Look at this mysterious and subtle film by director Samira Eskandarfar. Her figures drift through time and space in a stage setting that seems open-ended and universal. The underlying themes and messages are probably far more complex than I can ascertain without a proper understanding of Iranian culture. But the film stands as a mysterious and slightly harrowing glimpse into the progress of attraction, love and communication between individuals. The characters, played by Kazem Sayahi Saharkhiz and Faranak Miri, engage in mundane conversation, offer each other drinks, smoke cigarettes, make eyes at each other, play music on a tape recorder and disappoint each other in all the little ways of a normal life. But they seem symbolic of something greater and perhaps very much to do with the filmmaker’s Iran. There are some amazing artists working with enormous expressive power in Iran. Samira Eskandarfar is one of them.
By the way, the filmmaker is also a painter.
Visit the filmmaker’s web site.
Madagascar, A Journey Diary
Filled with different art styles, as if an artist went on a trip and tried new things with each page in a sketch book. This film, directed by Bastien Dubois, was nominated for a 2010 Academy Award.
Hansel and Gretel – 1954 Stop Motion Opera Feature
This 1954 RKO Radio Pictures film was based on Engelbert Humperdink’s opera and directed by Michael Myerberg. Be warned: the actress who plays Gretel gives what is possibly the single worst vocal performance in the history of animated films!
Ménilmontant – 1926 French Film by Dimitri Kirsanoff
The film takes its name from a neighborhood in Paris. It was directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff and is considered to be his greatest work. It moves very quickly, using a montage technique that tells the story without a single intertitle. It’s a riveting and powerful tale of disillusionment and violence. The lead actress is wonderful and has some of the best eyes for silent film I’ve ever seen.
Trouble in Space – A Film by Chris Koelsch
Chris Koelsch made this slyly humorous space tale by appropriating footage from an old sixties science fiction cartoon called Space Angel. He put the footage to his own wise uses and came up with something memorable.