Tuesday, January 30, 2007

the essential cinema

personal film canon.
a list of movies that have had an influence on me,
and have been watched repetitively.

- chantal akerman: je, tu, il, elle 1974, jeanne dielman, 23 quai du commerce 1080 bruxelles 1976, news from home 1977, les rendez-vous d'anna 1978, j'ai faim, j'ai froid 1984


- woody allen: stardust memories 1980, broadway danny rose 1984, hannah and her sisters 1986, crimes and misdemeanors 1989, husbands and wives 1992, manhattan murder mystery 1993, bullets over broadway 1994

- robert altman: mccabe & mrs. miller 1971, the long goodbye 1973, california split 1974, nashville 1975

- american mutoscope & biograph co.: the ghost train 1903

- linday anderson: o lucky man! 1973

- paul thomas anderson: hard eight 1996, punch-drunk love 2002, there will be blood 2007

- wes anderson: bottle rocket 1996

- kenneth anger: eaux d'artifice 1953, rabbit's moon 1950-1970

- michelangelo antonioni: l'avventura 1960, l'eclisse 1962, red desert 1964, the passenger 1975

- hal ashby: the last detail 1973

- anthony asquith: the browning version 1951

- olivier assayas: cold water 1994

- lloyd bacon (busby berkeley): footlight parade 1933

- roy baker: a night to remember 1958

- bruce baillee: mr. hayashi 1961, castro street 1964, all my life 1966

- daniel barnett: white heart 1975

- sarunas bartas: *works (*in memory of a day gone by 1990, *three days 1991, *the corridor 1994, *few of us 1996, *the house 1997, *freedom 2001)

- william basinski: disintegration loop 1.1 2001

- jacques becker
: le trou 1960

- robert benton: the late show, 1977

- ingmar bergman
: the seventh seal 1957, wild strawberries 1957, virgin spring 1960, through a glass darkly 1961, winter light 1963, the silence 1963, persona 1967, shame 1968, hour of the wolf 1968, scenes from a marriage 1973 & 1974, autumn sonata 1978, saraband 2003



- claude berri: le vieil homme et l'enfant (the two of us) 1967

- peter bogdanovich: targets 1968, the last picture show 1971, what's up, doc? 1972, paper moon 1973

- frank borzage: moonrise 1948

- danny boyle: 28 days later 2002

- stan brakhage
: mothlight 1963, songs 1964-1967, the wold shadow 1972, the text of light 1974, *romans 1979-80, *arabics 1980-82, the garden of earthly delights, 1981, hell spit flexion 1983, * egyptian series 1984, night music 1986, dante quartet 1987, rage net 1988, for marilyn 1992, interpolations I-V 1992, study in color and black and white 1993, stellar 1993, black ice 1994, commingled containers 1996, beautiful funerals 1996, the fur of home 1996, blue value 1996, polite madness 1996, preludes 13-18 1996, preludes 19-24 1997, cat of the worms green realm 1997, the dark tower 1999, coupling 1999, love song 2001, *panels for the walls of heaven 2002, *chinese series 2003 and many other hand painted films



- robert bresson: diary of a country priest 1950, a man escaped 1957, pickpocket 1959, au hasard balthazar 1966, mouchette 1967, une femme douce 1969, quatre nuits d'un rêveur 1971, l'argent 1983

- luis bunuel: los olvidados 1950

- charles burnett: killer of sheep 1977

- paul burnford: storm 1940-43

- steve buscemi: trees lounge 1996

- mary ellen bute: rythem in light (with melville webber, theodore nemeth) 1934

- george butler: endurance 2000

- james cameron: the terminator 1984

- frank capra
: american madness 1932, it happened one night 1934, mr. deeds goes to town 1936, you can't take it with you 1938, mr. smith goes to washington 1939, meet john doe 1941, arsenic and old lace 1944, it's a wonderful life 1946

- henning carlsen: hunger 1966

- marcel carné: port of shadows 1939, children of paradise 1946

- john carpenter
: assault on precinct 13 1976, the thing 1982, they live 1988

- john cassavetes: shadows 1959, faces 1968, husbands 1970, minnie and moskowitz 1971, a woman under the influence 1974, the killing of a chinese bookie 1976



- nuri bilge ceylan: uzak (distant) 2002

- charles chaplin
: essanay, mutuals, the floorwalker 1916, the cure 1917, the kid 1921, the gold rush 1925, the circus 1928, city lights 1931, modern times 1936, the great dictator 1940, monsieur verdoux 1947, limelight 1952

- david chase: the sopranos 1999-2007

- michael cimino: thunderbolt and lightfoot 1974, the deer hunter 1978

- rené clair: entr'acte (with francis picabia) 1924, paris qui dort 1925, and then there were none 1945

- alan clarke: made in britain 1982, the firm 1988, elephant 1989

- shirley clarke: the connection 1962, the cool world 1964

- edward cline: the bank dick 1940

- henri-georges clouzot: le corbeau 1943, wages of fear 1952

- coen brothers: fargo 1996, the big lebowski 1998, the man who wasn't there 2001, no country for old men 2007

- bruce connor: take the 5:10 to dreamland 1977

- francis ford coppola: the godfather 1972, the godfather, part II 1974, the conversation 1974

- joseph cornell: works

- costa-gavras
: missing 1982

- alex cox: repo man 1984

- charles crichton
: the lavender hill mob 1951

- david cronenberg
: shivers (they came from within) 1975, the brood 1979, scanners 1981, a history of violence 2005, eastern promises 2007

- alfonso cuaron
: children of men 2006

- george cukor: diner at eight 1933, holiday 1938, the philadelphia story 1940, gaslight 1944, born yesterday 1950, it should happen to you 1954, a star is born 1954

- michael curtiz: angels with dirty faces 1938, casablanca 1942, we're no angels 1955

- dardenne brothers: *rosetta 1999, le fils 2002, l'enfant 2005

- jules dassin: brute force 1947, the naked city 1948, thieves' highway 1949, night and the city 1950, rififi 1955



- delmer daves: dark passage 1947, 3:10 to yuma 1957

- terence davies: the long day closes 1992

- jonathon demme: the silence of the lambs 1991

- claire denis: trouble every day 2001, friday night 2002

- walt disney & david hand: bambi 1942

- evelina domnitch & dmitry gelfand: camera lucida 2006

- gordon douglas: them! 1954

- alexandr dovzhenko: earth 1930

- carl theodor dreyer: la passion de deanne d'arc 1928, vampyr 1932, day of wrath 1943, ordet 1955

- marcel duchamp: anemic cinema 1929

- daryl duke: payday 1973

- julien duvivier: pépé le moko 1937

- charles & ray eames: blacktop 1952, toccata for toy train 1957, powers of ten 1977

- clint eastwood: play misty for me 1971, high plains drifter 1973, the outlaw josey wales 1976, pale rider 1985, unforgiven 1992, mystic river 2003

- blake edwards: days of wine and roses 1962

- brian eno: thursday afternoon 1984, mistaken memories of mediaeval manhattan 1987

- victor erice: the spirit of the beehive 1973, the dream of light: quince tree of the sun 1992



- jean eustache: la maman et la putain 1973

- rainer werner fassbinder: why does herr r. run amok? 1969, the bitter tears of petra von kant 1972, ali: fear eats the soul 1973, martha 1973, mother kusters goes to heaven 1975, berlin alexanderplatz 1979/1980

- abel ferrara: bad lieutenant 1992

- oskar fischinger: works

- peter fischli david weiss: the way things go 1987

- john ford
: arrowsmith 1931, stagecoach 1939, drums along the mohawk 1939, young mr. lincoln 1939, the long voyage home 1940, the grapes of wrath 1940, how green was my valley 1941, they were expendable 1945, my darling clementine 1946, 3 godfathers 1948, fort apache 1948, she wore a yellow ribbon 1949, wagon master 1950, the quiet man 1952, the searchers 1956, the man who shot liberty valance 1962



- milos forman: lásky jedné plavovlásky (loves of a blonde) 1965, the fireman's ball 1967

- hollis frampton: hapax legomena I: (nostalgia) 1971, *zorns lemma 1970

- georges franju: eyes without a face 1969

- john frankenheimer: the train 1964

- william friedkin: the french connection 1971, the exorcist 1973

- samuel fuller
: pickup on south street 1953, forty guns 1957, shock corridor 1963

- vincent gallo: the brown bunny 2004

- ernie gehr: works

- sidney gilliat: green for danger 1946

- larry gottheim: works (esp. fog line 1970, barn rushes 1971)

- edmund goulding: grand hotel 1932

- nancy graves: isy boukir 1971

- david gordon green: george washington 2000

- d.w. griffith: a corner in wheat 1909

- philip gröning: die grosse stille 2005

- ulu grosbard: straight time 1978

- jgrzinich: works

- alexander hall: here comes mr. jordan 1941

- michael haneke: the piano teacher 2002, cache 2005

- herk harvey: carnival of souls 1962

- henry hathaway: the house on 92nd street 1945, 13 rue madeleine 1947, call northside 777 1948

- howard hawks: bringing up baby 1938, only angels have wings 1939, sergeant york 1941, to have and have not 1944, the big sleep 1946, red river 1948, the thing from another world 1951, rio bravo 1959

- amy heckerling: fast times at ridgemont high 1982

- monte hellman: two-lane blacktop 1971, cockfighter 1974

- werner herzog: the enigma of kaspar hauser 1974, woyzeck 1976, stroszek 1977, la soufrière 1977, fitzcarraldo 1982, lessons of darkness 1995, my best fiend: klaus kinski 1999

- arthur hiller: the out-of-towners 1970

- kim hiorthoy: supersilent 7 2005



- alfred hitchcock: the 39 steps 1935, sabotage 1936, the lady vanishes 1938, foreign correspondent 1940, rebecca 1940, saboteur 1942, shadow of a doubt 1943, lifeboat 1944, strangers on a train 1951, the wrong man 1956

- leslie howard (with anthony asquith): pygmalion 1938

- h bruce humberstone: sun valley serenade 1941

- frank hurley: *south 1919

- john huston: the maltese falcon 1941, the treasure of the sierra madre 1948, key largo 1948, the asphalt jungle 1950, beat the devil 1954, the night of the iguana 1964, fat city 1972

- peter hutton: works

- kon ichikawa: the burmese harp 1956, fires on the plain 1959

- otar iosselliani: falling leaves 1968, there was once a singing blackbird 1970, pastorale 1976

- alejandro gonzález iñárritu: amores peros 2000, 21 grams 2003

- peter jackson: heavenly creatures 1994, lord of the rings 2001-2003

- ken jacobs: tom, tom, the piper's son 1969, the doctor's dream 1978, keaton's cops 1991, disorient express 1995, muybridge on wheels 1996, georgetown loop 1997, ontic antics starring laurel and hardy 1997, bitemporal vision: the sea 1999, opening the 19th century 1896 1999 (1980s-90s), celestial subway lines 2005, all nervous system performances and other films (marey, little train of pleasure, stern's duplex railway).



- jim jarmusch
: stranger than paradise 1984, down by law 1986, mystery train 1989

- norman jewison: in the heat of the night 1967

- roland joffe: the mission 1986

- larry jordan: works

- mikheil kalatozishvili
: the cranes are flying 1957, i am cuba 1964

- aki kaurismaki: *the match factory girl 1990, *drifting clouds 1996, the man without a past 2002, lights in the dusk 2006

- wong kar-wai: days of being wild 1991, fallen angels 1995, happy together 1997, in the mood for love 2001, 2046 2005

- elia kazan: panic in the streets 1950, a streetcar named desire 1951, on the waterfront 1954

- buster keaton: the boat 1921, go west 1925

- abbas kiarostami: where is the friends home? 1987, five dedicated to ozu 2003

- krzysztof kieslowski
: the decalogue 1987, the double life of veronique 1991, blue 1993, white 1994, red 1994



- henry king: the bravados 1958

- *dimitri kirsanoff: rapt 1934

- takeshi kitano
: sonatine 2002

- masaki kobayashi: harakiri 1962, samurai rebellion 1967

- thomas koner: from the outskirts of the nothing to the suburbs of the void 2006

- henry koster: the bishop's wife 1947, harvey 1950, no highway in the sky 1951

- kurt kren: works (esp. 31/75 asyl 1975)

- peter kubelka: arnulf rainer 1960

- stanley kubrick: the killing 1956, paths of glory 1957, dr. strangelove or: how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb 1964, a clockwork orange 1971, barry lyndon 1975, the shining 1980

- akira kurosawa: stray dog 1949, rashomon 1950, ikiru 1952, seven samurai 1954, throne of blood 1957, hidden fortress 1958, yojimbo 1961, sanjuro 1962, high and low 1963, red beard 1965

- gregory la cava: my man godfrey 1936, stage door 1937

- albert lamorisse: le ballon rouge 1956, crin blanc: le cheval sauvage 1953

- fritz lang: m 1931, the testament of dr. mabuse 1933, the return of frank james 1940, hangmen also die 1943, ministry of fear 1944, scarlet street 1945

- marc lapore: works (esp. sudan rolls 1989, new york rolls 1990, a depression in the bay of bengal 1996)

- laurel & hardy: battle of the century 1927

- david lean: brief encounter 1946, great expectations 1946, oliver twist 1948

- ang lee: brokeback mountain 2005

- spike lee: do the right thing 1989

- malcolm le grice: after lumiere- l'arrosuer arrose 1974, blackbird descending - tense alignment 1977

- mike leigh: naked 1993, secrets & lies 1996, all or nothing 2002

- mervin leroy: random harvest 1942

- sergio leone
: a fistful of dollars 1964, for a few dollars more 1965, the good, the bad and the ugly 1966, once upon a time in the west 1968

- saul levine: notes after long silence 1989, light lick series 2000

- joseph losey: time without pity 1957, mr. klein 1976



- rose lowder: champs provincial 1979, *works

- ernst lubitsch: trouble in paradise 1932, ninotchka 1939, the shop around the corner 1940, to be or not to be 1942, heaven can wait 1943

- mary lucier: dawn burn 1975, *works

- sidney lumet: 12 angry men 1957, the fugitive kind 1959, the pawnbroker 1965, serpico 1973, dog day afternoon 1975, the verdict 1982

- lumieres brothers: works



- len lye: works

- david lynch: eraserhead 1977, the elephant man 1980, blue velvet 1986, twin peaks series 1990-1991, the straight story 1999, mulholland drive 2001, inland empire 2006

- alexander mackendrick: sweet smell of success 1957

- louis malle: atlantic city 1980, au revoir les enfants 1987

- terrence malik: badlands 1973, days of heaven 1978, the thin red line 1998, the new world 2005

- rouben mamoulian: queen christina 1933

- anthony mann: t-men 1947, winchester '73 1950, bend of the river 1952, the far country 1955, the tin star 1957

- michael mann
: man hunter 1986, heat 1995

- man ray: le retour a la raison 1923

- george marshall: destry rides again 1939

- archie mayo: the petrified forest 1936

- paul mazursky: harry and tonto 1974

- leo mccarey: the awful truth 1937, love affair 1939

- jonas mekas: the brig 1964, diaries notes and sketches 1969, lost lost lost 1976, zefiro torna or scenes from the life of george maciunas (fluxus) 1992, birth of a nation 1997, 365 cycle 2007

- georges melies
: works

- jean-pierre melville: le samouraï 1967, l'armée des ombres 1969, le cercle rouge 1970



- marie menken: works (esp. arabesque for kenneth anger 1961)

- oscar micheaux: body and soul 1925, ten minutes to live 1932

- roger michell: persuasion 1995

- vincente minelli: meet me in st. louis 1944

- tsai ming-liang: vive l'amour 1994, the river 1997, what time is it there? 2001

- kenji mizoguchi: sansho the bailiff 1954

- dominik moll: with a friend like harry 2000

- tarrl morley: works

- errol morris: the thin blue line 1988

- robert morris: mirror 1969

- bill morrison: decasia: the state of decay 2004



- robert mulligan: to kill a mockingbird 1962

- f. w. murnau: nosferatu 1922, the last laugh 1924, faust 1926, sunrise 1927

- j.j. murphy: *works

- mikio naruse: when a women ascends the stairs 1960

- roy william neill
: sherlock holmes (series with basil rathbone and nigel bruce) 1942-1946

- andrew noren: *works

- yuri norshteyn: hedgehog in the fog 1975

- ermanno olmi: il posto 1961, i fidanzati 1962, the tree of wooden clogs 1978

- max ophuls: la ronde 1950, madame de... 1953

- yasujiro ozu: late spring 1949, early summer 1951, tokyo story 1953, early spring 1956, tokyo twilight 1957

- g. w. pabst: pandora's box 1929, the threepenny opera 1931

- sergei parajanov: *shadows of forgotten ancestors 1964

- alan parker: angel heart 1987, mississippi burning 1988

- james parrot: the music box 1932 (laurel & hardy move a piano)

- p. p. pasolini: accattone 1961, mamma roma 1962, salo, or the 120 days of sodom 1975

- sam peckinpah: the wild bunch 1969, junior bonner 1972, pat garrett and billy the kid 1973

- maurice pialat: van gogh 1991

- j. leighton pierce
: works (esp. you can drive the big rigs 1989, principles of harmonic motion 1991, glass 1998, mr person in the water 2006)



- roman polanski: knife in the water 1962, macbeth 1971, chinatown 1974, the tenant 1976, frantic 1988, the pianist 2002

- abraham polonsky: force of evil 1948

- gillo pontecorvo: the battle of algiers 1966

- micheal powell & emeric pressburger: the spy in black 1939, contraband 1940, 49th parallel 1941, 'i know where i'm going!' 1945, black narcissus 1947, the red shoes 1948, peeping tom 1960

- otto preminger: fallen angel 1945, bunny lake is missing 1965

- harold ramis: groundhog day 1993

- nicholas ray: in a lonely place 1950, lusty men 1952, johnny guitar 1954, rebel without a cause 1955

- satyajit ray: pather panchali 1955, aparajito 1957, the world of apu 1959

- jurgen reble: chicago 1996, *works



- carol reed
: the third man 1949

- jean renoir: boudu saved from drowning 1932, grand illusion 1937, la bete humaine 1938, the rules of the game 1939

- alain resnais: hiroshima mon amour 1959

- dick richards: rafferty and the gold dust twins 1975

- tony richardson: the loneliness of the long distance runner 1962

- hans richter: rhythmus 21 1921

- leni riefenstahl: olympia 1938

- jacques rivette
: la belle noiseuse 1991

- henwar rodakiewicz: portrait of a young man 1925-31

- nicholas roeg: don't look now 1973

- george romero: night of the living dead 1968

- roberto rossellini: rome, open city 1945, *viaggio in italia 1954

- robert rossen: body and soul 1947, the hustler 1961

- jean rouch: les maitres fous 1957

- georges rouquier: *farrebique ou les quatre saisons 1946

- walter ruttmann: berlin, symphony of a city 1927



- mark sandrich: the gay divorcee 1934, top hat 1935, shall we dance 1937

- gus van sant: gerry 2002, elephant 2003, last days 2005

- richard sarafian: vanishing point 1971

- joseph sargent: the taking of pelham one two three 1974

- john sayles: matewan 1987, lone star 1996

- barbet schroeder: barfly 1987

- paul schrader: hardcore 1979

- martin scorsese: mean streets 1973, italianamerican 1974, alice doesn't live here anymore 1974, taxi driver 1976, the last waltz 1978, american boy: a profile of steven prince 1978, raging bull 1980, the last temptation of christ 1988, goodfellas 1990, cape fear 1991, no direction home: bob dylan 2005

- ridley scott: alien 1979

- paul sharits
: t,o,u,c,h,i,n,g, 1969 and *works

- kaneto shindô: onibaba 1964

- masahiro shinoda: double suicide 1969

- vittorio de sica: the children are watching us 1947, the bicycle thief 1948, umberto d. 1952, indiscretion of an american wife 1954, la ciociara (two women) 1960



- don siegel: invasion of the body snatchers 1956, dirty harry 1972, charley varrick 1973, the shootist 1976, escape from alcatraz 1979

- silt (& kieth evans)
: works

- robert siodmak: the killers 1946, criss cross 1949

- douglas sirk: magnificent obsession 1954, all that heaven allows 1955, written on the wind 1956, tarnished angels 1958

- jose antonio sistiaga
: impressions in the upper atmosphere 1989

- george sluizer: the vanishing 1988

- harry smith: works

- jack smith: flaming creatures 1963

- michael snow
: wavelength 1967, <---> back and forth 1969, la région centrale 1971, see you later 1990

- phil solomon: the secret garden 1988, the exquisite hour 1989, figure/ground (the snowman) 1995

- todd solondz: happiness 1998

- steven spielberg: duel 1970, munich 2005

- john m. stahl: imitation of life 1934

- ralph steiner: h2o 1929, surf & seaweed 1929/30, mechanical principles 1930

- josef von sternberg: morocco 1930, shanghai express 1932, blonde venus 1932, *the scarlet empress 1934, the devil is a woman 1935

- george stevens: swing time 1936, penny serenade 1941, the talk of the town 1942, a place in the sun 1951

- erich von stroheim: greed 1924, queen kelly 1929

- preston sturges: the great mcginty 1940, christmas in july 1940, the lady eve 1941, sullivan's travels 1941, the palm beach story 1942, the miracle of morgan's creek 1944, hail the conquering hero 1944, unfaithfully yours 1948

- jános szász: woyzeck 1994

- andrei tarkovsky: ivanovo detstvo (ivan's childhood) 1962, andrei rublev 1969, solaris 1972, the mirror 1975, stalker 1979, nostalghia 1983, the sacrifice 1986



- bela tarr: damnation 1988, satantango 1994, werckmeister harmonies 2000

- jacques tati: jour de fête 1949, les vacances de monsieur hulot 1953, mon oncle 1958, play time 1967

- hiroshi teshigahara: woman in the dunes 1964

- andré de toth: crime wave 1954

- jacques tourneur: cat people 1942, out of the past 1947, canyon passage 1946, night of the demon 1957

- lars von trier: the kingdom 1994/7, breaking the waves 1996, idioterne 1998, dancer in the dark 2000, dogville 2003

- francois truffault: the adventures of antoine doinel (the 400 blows, antoine and colette, stolen kisses, bed and board, and love on the run) 1959-1979

- agnes varda: the gleaners and i 2000

- dziga vertov: man with a movie camera 1929

- king vidor: the crowd 1928, street scene 1931, man without a star 1955

- jean vigo
: a propos de nice 1929-1930, taris 1931, zero de conduite 1933, l'atalante 1934

- thomas vintenberg: the celebration 1998

- luchino visconti
: le notti bianche 1957



- slavko vorkapich and john hoffman: moods of sea 1941

- bing wang: *tie xi qu: west of the tracks 2003

- andy warhol: *empire 1964, horse 1965, beauty #2 1965, chelsea girls 1966, the velvet underground and nico 1966 and others

- peter watkins: edvard munch 1976

- orson welles: citizen kane 1941, the magnificent ambersons 1942, the lady from shanghai 1948, touch of evil 1958

- william wellman
: the ox-bow incident 1943

- chris welsby: works

- wim wenders: the american friend 1977, paris, texas 1984, wings of desire 1987, don't come knocking 2005

- alfred l. werker: the adventures of sherlock holmes 1939

- james whale: frankenstein 1931, the invisible man 1933, bride of frankenstein 1935

- james whitney
: works

- robert wiene: the cabinet of dr. caligari 1919

- billy wilder: double indemnity 1944, the lost weekend 1945, sunset boulevard 1950, ace in the hole 1951, stalag 17 1953, sabrina 1954, the apartment 1960, one, two, three 1961, irma la douce 1963

- james white (for edison): paris exposition films 1900

- irwin winkler: guilty by suspicion 1991

- robert wise: blood on the moon 1948, the set-up 1949, the day the earth stood still 1951, odds against tomorrow 1959, the sound of music 1965

- john woo: hard boiled 1992, the killer 1989

- ed wood: glen or glenda 1953, plan 9 from outer space 1959

- sam wood: goodbye mr. chips 1939, pride of the yankees 1942

- fred worden *works

- basil wright: song of ceylon 1934

- joe wright: pride and prejudice 2005

- william wyler: wuthering heights 1939, the westerner 1940, the little foxes 1941, mrs. miniver 1942, the best years of our lives 1946, detective story 1951, roman holiday 1953, friendly persuasion 1956, the big country 1958

- fred zinnemann: high noon 1952, from here to eternity 1953, the nun's story 1959



* indicates movies i have always wanted to see, but have not been able, included anyway

good on line resources:
dvd beaver
criterion
masters of cinema
artificial-eye
sensesofcinema
unspoken cinema
jonas mekas
stan brakhage
tarkovsky
jonathan rosenbaum

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

best of 2006, or the sublime

train photo by m swiezynski

in no order,

dvds of note:

satantango, bela tarr, artificial eye
the double life of veronique, krzysztof kieslowski, criterion
la bete humaine, jean renoir, criterion
young mr. lincoln, john ford, criterion
pickpocket, robert bresson, criterion
pandora’s box, g.w. pabst, criterion
the spirit of the beehive, víctor erice, criterion
seven samurai, akira kurosawa, criterion
lightstreams + light threads, tarrl morley
saraband, ingmar bergman, sony
john wayne - john ford film collection, john ford, warner
a history of violence, david cronenberg, new line
edvard munch, peter watkins, new yorker
l'enfant, dardenne brothers
preston sturges - the filmmaker collection, preston sturges, universal
supersilent, 7, rune grammofon

movies in the theatre

l'armee des ombres, jean-pierre melville
children of men, alfonso cuaron
the new world, terrence malick

m swiezynski

cds

jonathan coleclough & murmer, husk
scott walker, the drift
nurse with wound, shipwreck radio 2
bernhard gunter/heribert friedl, trans
chris watson & bj nilsen, storm
bj nilsen & stillupsteypa, erykkjuvisur ohljodanna
current 93, black ships ate the sky
mnortham, automnal 2003
jgrzinich & seth nehil, gyre
steve roden, ubu 5
giuseppe ielasi, giuseppe ielasi
gidon kremer, j.s. bach the sonatas and partitas for violin solo
phill niblock, touch three
richard chartier, incidence + specification.fifteen (with taylor deupree)
svarte greiner, knive
bonnie prince billy, the letting go
max richter, songs from above
thom yorke, the erasure
dj olive, sleep
andrew chalk, goldfall
isolde, on waving and drowning
tom waits, bawlers
andrew liles, the dying submariner
the hafler trio & colin potter, a pressed on sandwich
peter wright, red lion + unvarnished, untreated, unzipped + pariahs sing om
charlemagne palestine - tony conrad, an aural symbiotic mystery
maurizio bianchi-nobu kasahara-hitoshi kojo, the epidemic symphony no. 9
maurizio bianchi, bacterie
spiracle, ananta + isis
hum, inner navigation
stephan mathieu & janek schaefer. hidden name
johann johannsson, ibm 1401, a user's manual
william basinski, variations for piano & tape
tomasz stanko, lontano
deathprod, six track
jacob kirkegaard, 4 rooms
hwyl nofio, hounded by fury
the hafler trio, exactly as i am
pandit pran nath, midnight raga
ov, the moon is down

books

brice marden moma catalogue
anselm kiefer, heaven and earth
carlo scarpa architecture atlas
villa girasole: the revolving house
hiroshi sugimoto, theaters
gerhard richter: works on paper
gerhard richter: paintings 2003-2005
edward hopper: catalogue raisonne
klee and america

Monday, January 22, 2007

abstractions, monochromes and minimalism, part 1

a small list of considerations for a chronicle of visual abstraction, with examples from music, photography, painting, film, video, and literature.
including minimalism and the monochrome.
this is not an all-inclusive list, but only concerned with examples of beauty or the sublime.
this list is mostly centered around books and music from the library of herr schinkel / m. swiezynski, and related items found in museums, galleries or on the internet.

1. the work of michael snow. in particular his
films:
-wavelength, 1967
-<-> (back and forth), 1968-69
-la region centrale, 1971


-also examples from his visual art.

conception of light, 1992 (detail)
2 photographies circulaires couleur sur plastique

very good books on the subject are:
the art gallery of ontario's 3 volume set:
-the michael snow project, knopf canada (bruce mau design) including:
-presence and absence
-visual art and music/sound
-the collected writings of michael snow, 1994,1995
and:
-light moving in time by william c. wees, university of california press
-october 8, mit (about snow by annette michelson)
and many books by scott macdonald including avant-garde film, 1993.

2. the photography of marco breuer

in his words: "these images are fabricated without the use of a camera by either employing the technique of the photogram (bringing the object in physical contact with the paper when exposing it to light) or by subjecting the paper itself to a range of erosive treatments".

3. sound work & videos by jgrzinich
often uses contact mics or microphones in glass bottles to abstract field recordings.
his recent videos offer fine visual references to the process of finding (to come upon by chance) sound.
cds:
-insular regions
-equal and distant lines
-intimations
-gyre & confluence & stria (with seth nehil)

4a
. the recent films of bela tarr (also see previous blog)
in particular more abstract sequences in:
-damnation, 1988
-satantango, 1994
-werckmeister harmonies, 2000
these sequences usually involve extreme rain or wind, droning soundscapes and camera movements, long takes, and minimal lighting.
books:
bela tarr, filmunio hungary / museum of modern art new york
-essential cinema: on the necessity of film canons, by jonathan rosenbaum, the johns hopkins university press

4b. these techniques were further employed by gus van sant in his young death trilogy. for example long takes in gerry where the camera glides parallel to the actors through the landscape with the actors and landscapes going in and out of focus. also much of the sound design in last days.

5. the visual work of henri michaux
books:
-darkness moves: an henri michaux anthology, university of california press
-henri michaux, peindre, composer, ecrire, bibliotheque nationale de france/gallimard
-untitled passage by henri michaux, the drawing center new york
-henri michaux, emergences/resurgences, the drawing center new york
-henri michaux, peintures, gallimard
-henri michaux, bilder aquarelle zeichnungen gedichte aphorismen 1942-1948, verlag fred jahn






6. pierre soulages
visual examples here
books:
-soulages- 40 jahre malerei, hatje cantz
-pierre soulages, new york graphic society

7. susan derges
books:
-susan derges: woman thinking river & under the sun, fraenkel gallery
-susan derges: liquid form 1985-99, michael hue-williams

8. the films of ernie gehr
in particular:
films:
-reverberation, 1969
-serene velocity, 1970
-history, 1970
-eureka, 1974
-untitled part 1 1981, 1981
-signal: germany on the air, 1982-85
-italian woods, 1982
-side/walk/shuttle, 1993
books:
-films of ernie gehr, san francisco cinematheque
-ernie gehr: brother can you spare some time, walter/mcbean gallery
-numerous film culture and millennium film journal articles
-and scott macdonald's books.
j. hoberman said of side/walk/shuttle: "the movie is pure sensation: it has the effect of a slow-motion roller coaster. the camera's stately swoops and stomach-dropping descents obliterate all sense of gravity. san francisco is so viscerally and obsessively transformed that gehr might honorably have titled his movie vertigo."


9. the visual work of victor hugo
the best place to see them is the victor hugo museum in paris.
books:
-shadows of a hand: the drawings of victor hugo, the drawing center new york
-victor hugo: l'homme ocean, bibliotheque nationale de france/seuil
-victor hugo: dessins, du chaos dans le pinceau..., paris musees





10. the photographs of idris khan
in particular:
-every... photograph taken whilst on top of the empire state building, 2003
-every... william turner postcard from tate britain, 2004
-struggling to hear....after ludwig van beethoven sonatas, 2005
-blossfeldt.....after karl blossfeldt 'art forms in nature', 2005
-caravaggio...... the final years, 2006

11. the visual work of robert fludd
early monochrome works (the great darkness, the appearance of light)
books:
-robert fludd: hermetic philosopher and surveyor of two worlds, phanes press
-the hermetic museum: alchemy & mysticism, taschen
also see anslem kiefer's the secret life of plants & for robert fludd


12. robert ryman

books:
-robert ryman: works on paper, 1957-1964, peter blum editions
-robert ryman, dallas museum of art
-samuel beckett & robert ryman: artists' book with 6 aquatints nohow on, deluxe book w/ 6 aquatints, 8 ½ x 12 inches, edition of 550, in slipcase, signed by both artists (unfortunately not in my collection)

13. agnes martin
books:
-writings: agnes martin, hatje cantz
-3x an abstraction: new methods of drawing by hilma af klint, emma kunz, and agnes martin, yale/drawing center new york
-agnes martin: works on paper, museum of fine arts new mexico
-agnes martin: the nineties and beyond, hatje cantz
-agnes martin: The Islands, richter verlag

14. films/videos/photos/sound art by tarrl lightowler
tarrl lightowler has dedicated himself mainly to photographing light reflected on water, using still photography, 16mm, video and sound.


15. phenomena series by jean dubuffet (see previous blog)
the moma has many good examples.
books:
-jean dubuffet: catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre grave, baudoin lebon editeur
-lithographs of jean dubuffet- department of prints, philadephia museum of art 1964-1965, philadephia museum of art

16. cosmos/sun/star photos featured in dans le champ des etoiles: les photographes et le ciel 1850-2000, reunion des musees nationaux.
wonderful book on photography and the sky, includes the photos of:
maurice loewy & pierre puiaeux, lewis tabor, marcel bovis, john herschel, warren de rue, jules janssen, isaac roberts, paul henry, maximilian wolf, ferdinand quenisset, thomas ruff, and many others.

also see: cosmos: from romanticism to avant-garde which includes some of the same work, and more examples from romanticism to modernism.

17. recent work by the hafler trio (andrew mackenzie)
including his monochromatic abstractions of the human voice:
cds:
-exactly as I say
-exactly as i do
-exactly as i am
-normally
-where are you
and other fine drone records. in his words: "working in the field of psychoacoustics and sonic research..... has produced a prolific body of work involving art, science, sound, religion, comedy and philosophy — emphasizing a dynamic balance and interplay of 'body', 'mind' and 'spirit' over any one of these".

18. visual work of august strindberg
books:
-l'experience photographique d'august strindberg, actes sud
-strindberg painter and photographer, yale
most interesting are the celestographies, (cameraless photos made by exposing photographic plates directly to the night sky)


19. camera lucida work by evelina domnitch and dmitry gelfand.
the project known as camera lucida directly converts sound waves into light.

20. alphonse allais
french humorist that did monochromes that had a big inspiration on duchamp and yves klein.

21. lewis carroll: the hunting of the snark, 1876. (empty maps)
see this fine article for information on early monochrome artists.

22. semiconductor's brilliant noise.
brilliant noise is comprised of solor photography. in their works: "these images have been kept in their most raw form, revealing the energetic particles and solar wind as a rain of white noise. this grainy black and white quality is routinely cleaned up by nasa, hiding the processes and mechanics in action behind the capturing procedure".

23. thomas joshua cooper
for example soft rain - last light the lake of maracaibo, 2005


24. andy warhol oxidation paintings (urine and metallic pigment in acrylic medium on canvas)

books:
-andy warhol: piss & sex paintings and drawings, gagosian gallery

25. eleanore mikus
mikus created minimalistic monochrome paintings during the '60s and early '70 and returned again to this work in the mid '80s to present.


26. laurie reid
san francisco artist that restricts herself to using water, pigment, and paper.
more images here from crown point press.


27. dove bradshaw
new york artist engaged in process works, which are influenced by john cage's ideas about chance.
see contingency series for good examples.


28. robert morris
especially his blind time drawings, and film mirror 1969.

books:
-robert morris: the mind/body problem, guggenheim.

29. william anastasi
famous for his subway drawings in the 70's riding to and from daily chess games with john cage. sitting with a pencil in each hand and a drawing board on his lap, allowing the rhythm of the moving train to be transformed into lines on the paper.


30. james welling
los angeles based photographer that makes photograms (cameraless photos).
more info here and images.


31. cai guo-qiang
chinese artist that draws with gunpowder, more info here.


32. the novels of maurice blanchot
for example, thomas the obscure:
"...scarcely any light remained, but it was still possible to see certain details of the landscape fairly clearly...as night was falling he tried to get up, and, pushing against the ground with both hands, got one knee under him while the other leg dangled, then he made a sudden lurch and succeeded in placing himself entirely erect. so he was standing....."
books:
-the station hill blanchot reader: fiction & literary essays, station hill
-the step not beyond, suny
-aminadab, bison books
-blanchot: the space of literature, univ. of nebraska press

33. the number pieces and prints of john cage.
the number pieces were written between 1987-1992. each work's title consists of a number written out (one, two, fourteen, etc.) that indicates the number of performers.
other musical examples:
-44 harmonies from apartment house 1776
-cheap imitation
-ryoanji
-quartets I-VIII
-4'33''

books:
-rolywholyover: a circus, museum of contemporary art, los angeles
-john cage visual art: to sober and quiet the mind, crown point press
-sounds of the inner eye: john cage, mark tobey and morris graves, univ. of washingtom press
-silence: lectures and writings, wesleyan university press
-muiscage: cage muses on words art music, wesleyan univ. press
-m: writings '67-'72, wesleyan univ. press
-the music of john cage by james pritchett, cambridge univ. press
-october 81 & 82, mit (includes reconsidering cage)
-john cage I-VI, wesleyan university press
and other books.

34. the sound work of b.j. nilsen
cds:
-storm (with chris watson)
-drykkjuvisur ohljodanna & vikinga brennivin (both with stilluppsteypa)
-fade to white
all with delicate monochromatic textures. in his words: "there are no reference points in this darkness".

35. paintings by gunter uecker.
german artist that was part of group zero.

books:
-monochromes: from malevich to the present by barbara rose univ. of california

acknowledgements to tarrl lightowler for numerous ideas for this list.