Jordan Belson - 5 Essential Films

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ivuernis · #1 Post by **ivuernis** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:02 pm

Center for Visual Music have announced the first of their Jordan Belson DVD series.

5 Essential Films: Allures (1961), Samadhi (1967), Light (1973), Fountain of Dreams (1984), and Epilogue (2005)

sevenarts · #2 Post by **sevenarts** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 3:34 pm

Wow, CVM is really stretching out these series. I think that adds up to even less running time than their Fischinger DVD.

Never seen these films, are they any good? The Fischinger disc is good, but mostly not much more than eye candy, and my favorites on that were the three early films rather than the more "mature" works.

ivuernis · #3 Post by **ivuernis** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:53 pm

sevenarts wrote:Wow, CVM is really stretching out these series. I think that adds up to even less running time than their Fischinger DVD.

Never seen these films, are they any good? The Fischinger disc is good, but mostly not much more than eye candy, and my favorites on that were the three early films rather than the more "mature" works.

Yes, noticed that too. Those 5 films are probably around the 45min mark and so not a lot of running time for your money. Although I have to admit I bought the IOTA VHS series of tapes a few years back at â‚¬25 each and didn't regret it. If the CVM release was a box-set around the $50 mark I would get it but if it's going to be several DVDs at â‚¬25 each I'll stick with the IOTA tapes even though Fountain of Dreams and Epilogue are not on them.

If you haven't seen them before and are interested in this type of film then the CVM DVD is probably worth a punt although I am personally I little underwhelmed at the limited number of films on the DVD. I was always hoping Criterion would do a Belson set along the same lines as the Brakhage set.

Mestes · #4 Post by **Mestes** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:27 pm

sevenarts wrote:The Fischinger disc is good, but mostly not much more than eye candy,

I saw most of these films for the first time in 1966 as an 18 year old, and their poetic beauty stunned me, in much the same way as "eye candy" has stunned mankind since the evolutionary development of the cornea.
The meaning of "eye candy," used as a pejorative, has always eluded me. If you don't understand the appeal, I'm sure I won't be able to explain it. Hell, I don't understand why J. Pollock's "Blue Poles" stopped me cold in my museum deadened eyes when I saw it shown at the Louvre in 1973, or why Edward Hopper's works make me want to cry. And countless other examples. All I know, is that visual beauty affects me, and for that I am grateful.

I haven't seen any Belson in many years, but I enjoyed his work when I saw it. I suspect I will see more beauty in the 40 minutes of this DVD than in 40 hours of boring Hollywood compositions.

To my eye, value has nothing to do with time.

#5 Post by **zedz** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:51 am

Mestes wrote:
sevenarts wrote:The Fischinger disc is good, but mostly not much more than eye candy,
I saw most of these films for the first time in 1966 as an 18 year old, and their poetic beauty stunned me, in much the same way as "eye candy" has stunned mankind since the evolutionary development of the cornea.
The meaning of "eye candy," used as a pejorative, has always eluded me. If you don't understand the appeal, I'm sure I won't be able to explain it. Hell, I don't understand why J. Pollock's "Blue Poles" stopped me cold in my museum deadened eyes when I saw it shown at the Louvre in 1973, or why Edward Hopper's works make me want to cry. And countless other examples. All I know, is that visual beauty affects me, and for that I am grateful.

Snappy comeback appreciated, as it saved me the bother. Abstract animation is all about visual sensation: the glories of form, colour, pattern. Like abstract art, but operating in the fourth dimension as well. The greatest non-narrative films are pure "eye candy" - no heavy themes, no characters, no story.

Sometimes it seems to me little more than a historical accident that films like Motion Painting No 1, Eaux d'artifice or Black Ice (now there's some candy on which I could quite happily gorge my eyes for years to come) are considered to be examples of the same artform as The Searchers or Exterminating Angel. To me, they have about as much in common as a Bartok Piano Concerto and a Shakespeare comedy.

sevenarts · #6 Post by **sevenarts** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:00 am

Fair enough, guys. I should say that I didn't mean the "eye candy" remark as a putdown of abstract film in general. I only meant that Fischinger's films don't hit me hard the way, say, Brakhage or Anger do -- or even someone like Billy Roisz, whose wonderful video work is if anything even more resolutely abstract and devoid of "content" than Fischinger's. Which is of course very subjective, but that's me. I did, as I said, really enjoy the 3 early films on the Fischinger DVD -- perhaps because they seemed a little rougher around the edges, a little less concerned with just making blocks of color dance cutely around the screen.

So I was just idly wondering if I'd get any more out of Belson's work, not an inconsequential question considering that this company seems intent on putting out as many $30 DVDs with minimal running times as they can manage.

Harvey Domino · #7 Post by **Harvey Domino** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 9:56 am

I like Belson's stuff.

It always amuses me that he worked on The Right Stuff... I wonder if he might've been an influence on effects for The Fountain (which I have not seen yet)?

MichaelB · #8 Post by **MichaelB** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:39 am

love me do wrote:It always amuses me that he worked on The Right Stuff... I wonder if he might've been an influence on effects for The Fountain (which I have not seen yet)?

If I remember rightly, in her original review of the film, Pauline Kael disparaged the "stargate" sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey by comparing it unfavourably to Belson's work.

cinema16 · #9 Post by **cinema16** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:51 am

sevenarts wrote:So I was just idly wondering if I'd get any more out of Belson's work, not an inconsequential question considering that this company seems intent on putting out as many $30 DVDs with minimal running times as they can manage.

The Belson DVD is $25, not $30. If someone puts up what, around $150,000 or so to restore and transfer more of Belson's films, then I'm sure CVM could put many more on DVD.

It's amazing that no one whines about 4 films for $40 (the old videotape series) yet they will whine about 5 films for $25 on DVD.

Gregory · #10 Post by **Gregory** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:36 pm

Are you affiliated with the Center for Visual Music, cinema16? I ask this only out of curiosity. You have not said so explicitly but all your posts have been about Fischinger and Belson.

About the Belson DVD: I'm pleased about the titles being offered on this disc. With one exception, they're different titles from the "Samadhi and Other Films" thing I have from Mystic Fire.

gubbelsj · #11 Post by **gubbelsj** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:07 pm

I haven't heard much about this release since the announcement was made. Any thoughts? I recently picked up the Oskar Fischinger disc from CVM and have been enjoying it, and am wondering how the Belson dvd compares.

#12 Post by **zedz** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 10:19 pm

They're gorgeous films. I'm a huge Fischinger partisan, so that's obviously going to be my favourite of the two discs, but the Belson is terrific.

It's somewhat annoying that both discs are so short (Belson is only about 45 minutes, no extras), but comparing this release with a hollowly-stacked major studio release is like comparing apples and bubblewrap.

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