Altered States
Ken Russell, USA, 1980, 102 min
Audio excerpts from Voile D’Orphée by Pierre Henry

 

A Harvard scientist conducts experiments on himself with a hallucinatory drug and an isolation chamber that may be causing him to regress genetically. – IMDb

 

 

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On le met en relation avec le Cerveau Mystique (2006) d’Isabelle Raynauld (on en parlait ici), les Witches’ Cradles (2009) du Center for Tactical Magic (ici), la Hofmann’s Potion (2002) de Connie Littlefield (ici) et la pochette du groupe Godflesh pour l’album ‘Streetcleaner‘ (1989)

 

Eraserhead
David Lynch, USA, 1977, 89 min

 

‘Eraserhead is my most spiritual movie. No one understands when I say that, but it is.’ He went on to write about the difficulties he was having making sense of the way the film was « growing » and didn’t know the thing that just pulled it all together. He then reveals it was the Bible that provided the solution:

‘So I got out my Bible and I started reading. And one day, I read a sentence. And I closed the Bible, because that was it; that was it. And then I saw the thing as a whole. And it fulfilled this vision for me, 100 percent.’ – WIKI

 

La villa Santo Sospir
Jean Cocteau, France, 1952, 35 min

 

A 35-minute color film by COCTEAU entitled “La Villa Santo Sospir.” Shot in 1952, this is an “amateur film” done in 16mm, a sort of home movie in which Cocteau takes the viewer on a tour of a friend’s villa on the French coast (a major location used in Testament of Orpheus). The house itself is heavily decorated, mostly by COCTEAU (and a bit by Picasso), and we are given an extensive tour of the artwork. COCTEAU also shows us several dozen paintings as well. Most cover mythological themes, of course. He also proudly shows paintings by Edouard Dermithe and Jean Marais and plays around his own home in Villefranche. This informal little project once again shows the joy COCTEAU takes in creating art, in addition to showing a side of his work (his paintings and drawings) that his films often overshadow.

The Fall of the House of Usher
Jan Švankmajer, Czechoslovakia, 1982, 15 min

In this animated version of Edgar Allan Poe’s story, a traveler arrives at the Usher mansion to find that the sibling inhabitants are living under a mysterious family curse: The brother’s senses have become painfully acute, while his sister has become nearly catatonic. As the visitor’s stay at the mansion continues, the effects of the curse reach their terrifying climax, and he must choose between his concern for his hosts’ safety, and his own. – IMDb

Remembering Arthur
Martin Lavut, Canada, 2006, 89 min 54 s

 

In this feature length documentary, filmmaker Arthur Lipsett’s close friend Martin Lavut documents the influence of the eccentric Oscar-nominated film genius. The world of cinema tragically lost Lipsett in 1986 when the Montreal-born artist committed suicide 2 weeks before his 50th birthday. This feature documentary celebrates the life and legacy of one of Canada’s greatest creative minds, who began his filmmaking career at the NFB.

 

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On avait déjà publié 21-87 (1964) ici et Free Fall (1964) – d’abord ici, ensuite ici – et on se permet d’insister avec les deux suivants :

 

A Trip Down Memory Lane
Arthur Lipsett, Canada, 1965, 12 min 40 s

 

From Arthur Lipsett (Very Nice, Very Nice and 21-87), another incisive short film that looks at human might, majesty and mayhem. Compiled from some peculiar newsreel items of the last 50 years, the filmmaker calls this a time capsule yet his arrangement of pictures makes it almost explosive. There are hundreds of items, once front-page stuff, but all wryly grotesque when seen in this reshuffle of the past.

 
 

Very Nice, Very Nice
Arthur Lipsett, Canada, 1961, 6 min 59 s

 

Arthur Lipsett’s first film is an avant-garde blend of photography and sound. It looks behind the business-as-usual face we put on life and shows anxieties we want to forget. It is made of dozens of pictures that seem familiar, with fragments of speech heard in passing and, between times, a voice saying, « Very nice, very nice. » It was was critically acclaimed and plays frequently in festivals and film schools around the world.