Tscherkassky is one of the best structuralist/avant-garde directors ever. I'd put him above Brakhage, Deren, Kubelka, Warhol, Anger, Bunuel, etc. This is his magnum opus, words don't describe how masterful (and downright terrifying) this film is.
Writer for WhatCulture.com
Top 100 is here: http://www.imdb.com/list/mduBIpnlpTA/
I watched it at 4am in a dark house and it melted my brain.
"Rampart: Squad 51."
i watched outer space & two other tscherkassy shorts last night/this morning, & thought they were all fantastic. i'd never heard of him, had no idea what i was getting. only saw that it popped up on my mubi recommends page & thought it looked interesting.
i don't have the film vocab to explain why this is so satisfying, but this is exactly what i want things to be like. it reminds me of the first time i heard the fall or the first time i saw a guy maddin film and knew right at that moment i was watching something that aligns with the way my own synapses fire.
& full credit to the guy doing his score. fantastic stuff. i haven't checked, but i assume it's the same guy on all three that i've watched. sounds the same.
i remember i used to read about industrial bands like spk or cabaret voltaire or throbbing gristle, and i'd get really excited hearing about them, but when i actually heard them it was always a bit of a let down because they weren't as brutal and ugly as i wanted them to be. this is what i imagined them sounding like.
if anyone watches this, put on a good set of headphones if you have some available. it will add a lot to the experience.
this is on mubi, but i see there's also a copy on youtube - not sure how legit that stream is, but i'd say take 10 minutes of your day and give it a chance.
Oof. I didn't like it very much. I felt like since there wasn't anything to really hook me in that the following, garbled mayhem failed to induce any kind of meaningful response. It's chaotic and off-putting, and it certainly keeps one disoriented. I suppose if that's the intended response, the film is doing its job.
My problem is that I don't have a take-away. It doesn't leave me feeling anything. I'm not even "feeling empty" in the sense that the film might have left me with some profound "lost" feeling or something.
The title doesn't clue me in as to what it's supposed to be about, either.
I have appreciated many a strange artistic experience, certain elements of the avant garde, and tonnes of indie/alternative cinema, but this one just wasn't doing anything for me.