Retrieved via the Wayback Machine. Originally posted by addytorials

Shooting Rhymes and Cutting Verses is no less than an eye-opener to the possibilities of expression that the medium of cinema offers. In a country where the short film is denied recognition as a difficult and unwieldy art form in its own respect, this screening is a Godsend. 13 examples of poetry on film.

Poetry as a visual expression is an abstract idea in itself. Yet, some of the films were anything but. Riley’s “The Elevator” has all the slick charm of a linear short film and is yet much more due to its poetic narrative. The claustrophobia of an old racist finds amplitude in the combination of the visual elements and the poetry running through them. Hedgecock’s The Burdened Ass is a touching sentiment in verse seen through the thoughts of a man on sentry duty. It is hard to imagine now if the poetry would evoke as much without the shot of the understanding smile at the end. Rogoyska’s Not Waving But Drowning uses poetry as an effective punchline that twists the perceived content of the film in retrospect. Hill’s The Tyre is a short film that might hold its own as a separate story but is given superlative meaning through the interspersed verses of poetry.

Then, of course, are those films that defy every boundary of visual rationale and dance with the poetic form as an equal partner. These animated films are more a heightened experience of poetry than stories told on the backbone of imaginative verse. They are the moving splashes of colours, words and images that the written word illuminates in that fugitive part of your creative mind. Askin’s Summer with Monika and Arthur’s Picassoesque Naturankles give light and sound to the vivid imagery the poetry demands. Kocevar’s For You (based on a poem by Jacques Prevert) provides stark literal images following a simple and shocking little poem:

I went to the market, where they sell birds
and I bought some birds
for you
my love
I went to the market, where they sell flowers
and I bought some flowers
for you
my love

I went to the market, where they sell chains
and I bought some chains
heavy chains
for you
my love
And then I went to the slave market
and I looked for you
but I did not find you there
my love

Enmeshed at the very soul of their craft, these films take both cinema and poetry to a higher plane of expression. Bold, inconceivable and experimental, the 13 short films are an inspiring evolution in art.

Comments

Comment by Dilip D on February 8, 2006 @ 10:47 pm

I’m told by reliable sources that that poem is not based on a poem by Jacques Prevert, but is the precise translation of a poem by Jacques Prevert (Pour toi mon amour).

Comment by addytorials on February 9, 2006 @ 12:16 am

ah true. horrendous choice of words there. very misleading. what i meant was that the film was based on the poem, which, of course, is a true translation of the original by Prevert. my bad. thanks for pointing it out.