The Dante Quartet (1987)'s comments

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criscoJovan

Those brief moments where some kind of image is actually distinguishable beneath all of the colors - they are wonderful.

12 years 2 months ago

Ralf

jlfitz wrote:
another piece of crap by Brakhage

The Dante Quartet took six years to produce. The eight-minute silent film was created by painting images directly onto the film, though he often worked with previously photographed material that was then scraped away or otherwise manipulated. The paint was applied very thickly onto the film, up to half an inch thick.

People who dislike Brakhage's films on impulse because they're boring or whatever the reason, ought to at least show some appreciation for his devotion to the craft. If my math is correct (unlikely), a single second of this film was six days' worth of work, although I'm sure he rested every once in a while or did other projects. To make a six minute film for six years demands some tremendous patience and dedication.

10 years 9 months ago

xianjiro

Some notes on the links: both youtube links worked on 20150313.

this link is better quality but has music added by someone other than Brakhage (One can turn the sound off to have the Brakhage-approved experience.)

this link is lower quality and without the music

I had trouble getting the final link to stream - bandwidth issues from Asia maybe? But it seems to be equal quality to the second link above.

Last, I'm thinking the frame rate is higher on the(se) DVD derived versions. I've not been able to confirm this, but references to this having a running time of eight minutes (when all online versions clock in just over six) begs the question. It's doubtful so many Brakhage films have been cut and on this one especially, the intertitles go by so quickly, that I'm convinced the decision was made (probably when creating the two anthologies for the Criterion Collection) to use a higher frames per second.

9 years 2 months ago

igft

I'd like to see this one on the big screen.

11 years 2 months ago

Local Hero -- aka MestnyiGeroi

It was the Heaven segment that surprised me -- so chaotic and explosive.

11 years 9 months ago

252

Absolutely stunning. Unconventional film (I'm new to Brakhage) in the way that it's almost completely open to interpretation, aside from the subtle imagery that seeps through. I like these a lot. This shortfilm is as close to a dream (nightmare?) as can be.

8 years 1 month ago

jlfitz

Available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61SzOGVdOnk

12 years 6 months ago

Emiam

Yet another short of Brakhage (What kind of name is that actually in its origin, Swedish?) that I quickly nod twice of tiredness during its 6 min.
2/10

8 years 11 months ago

moontopmountain

I feel like watching these films on anything but a big screen defeats the experience, but nevertheless quality is essential
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJKC3cwv5b0

10 years 2 months ago

jlfitz

Hell itself is sitting through another piece of crap by Brakhage.

12 years 2 months ago

Nine99

Those two links are down, use http://pann.nate.com/video/208731178

13 years 3 months ago

Nowhere Man

What I am learning from Brakhage is that you can create some mildly interesting film despite a complete lack of talent.

10 years 7 months ago