Stop. Look. Go.

This week I watched some spectacular films that involved a lot of active participation. I watched Le Retour a raison, Emak-Bakia, Entr'acte, Symphonie Diagonale, Blood of the Poet, Anemic Cinema, and Ballet Mechanique.
The two films by Man Ray, Le Retour á Raison (1923) and Emak-Bakia (1926), were beautiful and well-crafted. Out of the bunch, I find his extremely interesting because it seems as if he puts everything but the kitchen sink in his films. Of course, there will always be those who looks only at technique, who ask 'how', while others of a more curious nature will as 'why.' Personally, I have always perferred inspiration to information. [Man Ray]
Both films have some of the same footage in it. which makes me wonder if he recycles a lot of his films into the new ones. Out of the two of them, I think that Emak-Bakia is the most interesting. Not just because it's longer and has more stuff, but because I think it's clever and there is more thought put into the work. My absolute favorite part is the animation of the stick figure jumping to each pose. There are lines on the film and he matches up with all of them. I think that Man Ray really liked geometric shapes and the way some ransom things looked on screen. His films are almost hypnotizing. He revolves many objects on the screen, and the things that are filmed are just so pretty that you can't look away.

I paint what cannot be photographed, that which comes from the imagination or from dreams, or from an unconscious drive. [Man Ray]

Another film i thought to be interesting is René Clair's Entr'acte. My favorite part of the entire film was the slow motion run of the funeral procession. There are parts in this film that don't make sense, and that is one of them. But, I like that it doesn't make sense. It's a film with a whole bunch of things thrown at it which serves the purpose well because the title means "between the acts." These can be assembled in any order to make sense of nothing.
I appreciated Blood of the Poet. It was very interesting how they wanted to trick the audience. It reminded me of some Melies films, except more thought out and kinda clever. For example, when the mirror turns into the pool leading the poet into the hallway. Superimposition of key items were also used heavily in this film. There is more depth in this film as well. For example, the death of the boy leading to the card table over top. What does this mean? That no one notices? That it's not important? That we as humans are so cruel that we play cards directly overtop the corpse of a child and use his body to hide the cheating? I don't know, but i like how this film makes you think and wonder about what goes on in the mind of the creator.
All in all, these films are very profound and filled with exciting and interesting objects. To fully appreciate these films, I think that you would have to watch them more than once. There is so much that you could miss because you're looking at one thing and also there is so much that you miss because images lead into other images for a reason. What is the reason?