May 2006 Archives
The Tailenders, DV, 72'00, Adele Horne
Pvt. Boro, DV, 8'50, Alma Boro
Unfortunately, I had to skip this screening. I was in need of serious caffiene-ation and the feel of chill air across my face. Without it, I was doomed to a rapid descent into slumberland. Hopefully someone else will chime in about these films. The Tailenders sounded particularly intriguing.
You will find the program description for these films here
Brother Boy, DV, 16'00, Jalal Jemison (pre-feature short)
This wonderfully strange, carefully constructed effort completely entranced me. A brief glimpse into the life of two brothers and their father. Characterizations are left ambivalent enough that it is difficult to pigeon-hole them or form definitive attachments to any particular character. The acting is consistently good throughout, but each of the principal actors also stand out at different moments of the film. Part of that feeling might come from the story line structure which gives each character a key moment to become the key focus in the story. Very nice work with outstanding production values and lush and exceedingly careful cinematographic constructions.
Wild Tigers I Have Known, HD, 98'00, Cam Archer (feature)
This is a pretty amazing work. Complicated characters (aren't we all? Hello Hollywood, are you listening?), extremely subtle conflict development, be-a-u-ti-ful cinematography that flows and connects with the narrative structure in wonderfully surprising ways, outstanding use of color to influence mood in a rather surreal fashion, fascinating depictions of desire and the confusion that such intense desires can generate, excellent mood shifts that take the narrative in unexpected directions, fever dreams that blur the real and the imagined, and an acting style which always kept things slightly askew. I really liked this film, though a minor complaint is that it did drag in a few places because of certain structural repetitions. It is a film full of heart and very fresh narrative development. While the characters are active in their existence, they also exhibit a strong sense of entrapment within the world that surrounds them. For this reason the film reminds me of numerous issues that Fassbinder dealt with in several films, some of my favorites being "Berlin Alexanderplatz," "Why has Herr R Run Amok," "Bolwieser," and "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant." Fassbinder is also appropriate to bring up in the context of his unwavering tenacity for dealing with complicated and controversial sexual issues. The big difference between his work and this film is that Cam, while he doesn't shy from such issues, is far less brutal with his characters, nor does he fall into the almost debilitating fatalism that pervades Fassbinder's work. This makes Cam's work much more hopeful and progressive than the works by Fassbinder I've managed to see.
Arachnogasmic! Short films by Martha Colburn
The first thing I must say about Martha is that she has the kind of acerbic and challenging wit that I truly enjoy. Never sour or bitter, but most certainly sharp and biting, she is hilarious in her observations and summations of the observed. This wit definitely infuses her films, though I can imagine many audiences being so shocked by her materials that they would miss this wit entirely. Fortunately, that wasn't the case with this PDX Fest audience, at least after a few of her films had shown. There seemed to be a collective discovery that emerged over time, an understanding that, while dark, her work is also very very funny.
I'm not going to comment on specific films, though I will list my favorites. Instead, I want to talk about an overall impression of her work.
Martha's films are raw and rough, with an intense DIY aesthetic. Her past work has strong and direct connections with a strain of punk/skronk/noise music that I've always sought out because I find it to be both hilarious and liberating. Her films have music in them from the group Red Balune, for instance, and people like Mick Hobbs and Jad Fair (to name a couple), and I would say her work would also have strong affinities with other groups like Ron Pate and His Debonairs, Shockabilly, KrackHouse, or any number of Shimmy Disc artists. A lot of those people have an extraordinary ability to create distorted and disturbed narratives that revel in their crudity. Her DIY aesthetic runs at the same pace so a collection of her work this large verges on the edge of onslaught. But, having seen this program, I wouldn't have missed it for any reason but an accident that left me unconscious or a death in the family.
I will make a brief comment on one of the films shown, however, because it demonstrated a very nice shift from the one-stop intensity of her older work which is more akin to pop songs than extended compositions. "Spiders in Love: An Arachnogasmic Musical," while containing stylistic affinities with older work, also presented more extended and inter-relational riffs, as well as a more nuanced pacing. For me, this helped her work become much deeper and more multi-layerd. I have no idea if this is an avenue she will continue to explore and develop but, if she does, I can see that evolving into much longer works with extended structures and more deeply developed themes. That kind of change might blow my mind right out of my brain pan though, so I guess I better be careful what I wish for!
My favorites from the program:
Skelehellavision
Groscher Lansangriff: Big Bug Attack
Cats Amore
Spiders In Love: An Arachnogasmic Musical
There's A Pervert In Our Pool!
I Can’t Keep Up
Evil Of Dracula
