Frank Film

Frank Film, Frank Mouris

Frank Film link

This 1973 experimental animation uses stop motion cut out magazine images. The sound track is layers of Frank's voice over one another. It starts with one voice counting down from 1972, while the other introduces the man, Frank, and the film as a series of images which the film-maker had collected for five years or so. Beginning with different shifting television screens, the diverse images flash on the screen.

There is a relation between the narrative of the man's childhood and the lists of seemingly unrelated words, and the images. The word list is almost a stream of consciousness word memory of items which come to mind when remembering, with intuitive links to other words, and a tendence towards illiteration and words starting with f where possible.

The counting voice moves through a series of holy men and holy days, matching the images, as the narrative voice mentions his calvinistic protestant work ethic of his childhood. It continues with other things that start with f, such as fried eggs, fish, fluffy, first-day-of-school (which coincides with the other voice talking about school).

A list of all the women he remembers runs behind his memories of girls as he talk of his school days.

He also creates a list starting with free, such as free association, free loving, free from pain, free from sin, free wheeling, free school, free state, free market, free-while-this-offer-lasts.

He describes his process of getting to the point where he wanted to be a film-maker.

The numbers return but going up this time, as he says this is the end and the film finishes.

An interesting element of this soundtrack is that there is no emotional tone set by a musical introduction, you are left listening to the voices to decide your own emotional response. I found myself in an analytical mode of listening, shifting between listening to the more linear narrative and the word lists, so I never heard the whole story of the narrative. The sound quality was not so good, so I struggled to understand the words, and wondered which I should be listening to at any one moment. Yet the images, the story and the word lists built up a picture of Frank's life which works on many layers, the visual playful images, the intuitive free word association, and the traditional story-telling, as you might hear a friend tell their story. It is intimate without being over emotional, it feels very personal and universal all at once. It feels like listening to your brain work and being able to choose between the left brain or right brain mental approaches and the visual also.

Ah Pook Is Here

Ah Pook Is Here

A gritty, trippy and deeply political stop motion animation by Philip Hunt, using a recording of William S Burroughs reading his poem Ah Pook The Destroyer, taken from the record Dead City Radio (1990). The music was done by John Cale, and the recording includes Burroughs singing Falling In Love Again in german, "Ich Bin Von Kopf Bis Fuss Auf Liebe Eingestellt" , (made famous by Marlene Deitrich in the 1930s), over the end titles. AH POOK got Ten international film awards, and was voted 'BEST OF THE BEST' at the 2010 Stuttgart International Trickfilm festival.

The dominating element in this animation is the dialogue, which leads the visuals and the sound. The sound effects at the start include static and radio noise, the beep of the start of the film. The screen shows stars in space. A distant ominous timpani is heard, foreshadowing the quotation to come. The narrator's voice states over the timpani hits:

“When I become Death,

Death is the seed from which I grow”

As we approach a circle/tunnel of lines, through floating alphabet characters and numbers, the rushing sound increases in volume, and after we enter, darkness is light, the stars are dark, and silence is heard.

We fly towards a small planet with stick-like trees, and a single orbiting moon. A beep, and the music gets louder as we approach. A burst of static, and the narrator's voice starts again. The music is reassuring, yet strange against the disturbing visuals and dialogue. Plucked strings in a regular rhythm, it's like thinking music, which suits the mental state I have watching this film.

I listen to the list of Mayan gods, which is deceivingly calming. A listing of the forces at play in the world, and questioning Ah Pook, questioning war and death, and American imperialism.

I am thinking of Hiroshima, of war and control, of death and the rationale behind war.

I think of why death needs time.

The string music continues until the character goes underground, where the music stops, to be replaced by harpsichord, baroque style. This music continues while the narrator talks of the decision makers on the planet, weak and ignorant.

The final song comes after the character has killed himself. It is a love song, plaintive, sad, slightly lost.

The music and sound effects support well the visuals and the dialogue, they are not distracting or demanding attention in themselves. They are minimal and effective. They leave space to watch, think, feel and respond to the film in our own way.