By Brakhage (2003)
Film:
DVD:

Features:

• Twenty-six films, all with new digital transfers
  
• Video "encounters" with Brakhage
  
• Comments on selected films by Brakhage
  
• Essay and film capsules by Brakhage expert Fred Camper
  

Released by Criterion
Rating: NR
Region: 1
Anamorphic: N/A; films appear in their original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: Rent it at the very least; own it for more contemplation.

Stan Brakhage was many things, but primarily I think he serves as an innovator of film. He also serves as a tremendous workhorse, since his filmography contains 369 films of varying lengths and styles. Preferring to work with visuals, many of his films lack audio at all. Instead, he goes completely over the deep end of imagery and color, using everything from childbirth to an autopsy to painting on the film itself to get across his own version of visual poetry.

I'll go ahead and tell you that I'm not a tremendous fan of abstract art. Nor am I a fan, particularly, of what I would call "utilitarian art." With the former, you've got Jackson Pollock, of whom I have no personal interest in his paintings. I like something I can grasp with my own brain without having to stare at some splotches and being told, "Oh, this work is about eternity" or the like. With the latter, I see and understand the significance of an artist doing something like filming his wife's natural childbirth (in "Window Water Baby Moving"; at the time--1962--an extremely novel concept, so Brakhage tells us in his comments) or dealing with the physical body by filming unflinchingly an autopsy ("The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes"), but I don't necessarily think of it as a great work of art. But that's just me.

Of the films, I enjoyed the hand-painted ones the best. If they had to be abstract art, I could respect them because it was never the same stationary abstract image twice--it was always moving and changing. Also, if nothing else, I can truly respect the work that would go into painting directly onto enough film to make some bits the size that they were. What I can say, though, is that the films themselves look great given the fact that some of them were shot originally on 8mm film.

Again, like Pollock, I think I got more out of hearing the artist speak and give his thoughts on his art than I did the actual art itself. Between the remarks that accompany a goodly number of the films, which specifically address what the films were about--a great help--and the encounter with Brakhage himself split into four parts across the two discs, I received a portrait of a fascinating artist. Hearing him talk about the subjects he was trying to address in the film I found much more rewarding than the films themselves.

Beyond the features on the disc, you also get a booklet that comes in very handy when, like me, you're a first time Brakhage watcher. Fred Camper provides not only a capsule summary of each film (to provide a little context), but he also gives up an essay as well.

For fans of the filmmaker, this is a no brainer. They're going to want to own this, even if they already have the films in another form, just because the video is so clear. But also this gives them the opportunity to jump about in the films and reflect upon what they're seeing. Everyone else should at least rent--even if it turns out Brakhage is not your thing, he needs to be experienced.