The artist Harry Smith once described his Heaven and Earth Magic (1962) thusly:
“The first part depicts the heroine’s toothache consequent to the loss of a very valuable watermelon, her dentistry and transportation to heaven. Next follows an elaborate exposition of the heavenly land in terms of Israel and Montreal; the second part depicts the return to earth from being eaten by Max Muller on the day Edward the Seventh dedicated the Great Sewer of London.”
If any of Mr. Smith’s inane rambling sounds to you as though it would make an engaging and accessible film, I highly recommend that you immediately reevaluate your status as a film lover or reassess your relationship with recreational drugs. This film is terrible. A collection of magazine cutouts photographed in stop motion style and set to a soundtrack of guttural howls and shrieks, it barely constitutes any form of expression whatsoever. The film’s write up in the 1001 tome hardly justifies its inclusion in the canon, as the author struggles to make excuses for Smith’s “work” (quotes original). The review also includes notes that the piece is “abstract” and “folk” in nature (quotes original).
The VHS box of the copy of Heaven and Earth Magic that I procured describes the film as “a graphic description of initiation, redemption and spiritual transformation couched in the language of Qabalah, alchemy, and experimental psychology.” It is my hope that my readers know crap when they see it, and when they read it, and in the case of both the film and this description I have a feeling that BS meters are already registering intolerable levels.
There is an upstart movement of individuals who believe that Harry Smith is the true unsung genius of the American avant-garde film scene. They hold that Smith —who was suspected to be the son of Aleister Crowley— and his work have not yet gotten their due praise. Let me assure you that these people, like those who followed Crowley, are morons.
Language: None
Runtime: 66 Minutes
0 comments:
Post a Comment