[Frameworks] Kuchar on the Oscars
Gene Youngblood
atopia at comcast.net
Sun Mar 4 13:08:32 CST 2012
When I asked him about Wavelength he claimed he didn’t remember even writing such a list. I don’t know which issue of Film Comment it was in, and a search of their back issues yields no results. Maybe Mike knows. I was often struck by the ambiguity of George’s comments, not sure if he was praising or dismissing. That was intentional no doubt.
From: Steve Polta
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2012 11:08 AM
To: Experimental Film Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Kuchar on the Oscars
Well it certainly would have been interesting to hear George Kuchar's take on WAVELENGTH. In my experience he always had these funny contrarian takes on "avant-garde" films. I never sat down and had discussions with him about this but he would often throw out these one-liners that were hilarious. For example, about Rose Lowder's "Bouquet" films, "Oh. Really nice color in those movies." About a Nathaniel Dorsky film with lots of very dark shots, "I'll have to bring my night vision goggles next time." About Jeffrey Skoller's "The Malady of Death" (relayed by Skoller): "Whatever it is you did, Jeff, it couldn't have been that bad." Say these lines to yourself in your best G. Kuchar voice and you'll see what I'm talking.
No doubt that George knew this stuff as well as anyone. But it is really his irreverence and his refusal to take anything in life too seriously that I find to be the most inspiring about this amazing man...
Steve Polta
--- On Sun, 3/4/12, gregg biermann <mubbazoo at optonline.net> wrote:
From: gregg biermann <mubbazoo at optonline.net>
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Kuchar on the Oscars
To: "Gene Youngblood" <atopia at comcast.net>, "Experimental Film Discussion List" <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>
Date: Sunday, March 4, 2012, 5:28 AM
Yes, Yes. That was it. Thanks Gene.
On 3/3/2012 3:06 PM, Gene Youngblood wrote:
Gregg, the diary you’re thinking of is “Low Light Life” (1988). George walks into a room at SFAI where Ken Jacobs is conducting a seminar, looking for food. Ken is extremely rude to George, insulting him in front of the students, and George walks out. It’s an embarrassing scene, not unusual for Ken, but it’s nevertheless interesting since it was at Ken’s loft in NYC that the Kuchar brothers first showed their films to the New York underground crowd. Yes, George loved the films he caricatured, and his stance is never condescending (the same cannot be said for his pal John Waters, by way of comparison). George’s knowledge of Hollywood film history was amazing, and his film and soundtrack collections were legendary, but he loved all kinds of movies. A few years ago Film Comment asked some well known filmmakers to list their top ten favorite movies. On George’s list were titles you would expect, but he also included “Wavelength” and Antonioni’s “Eclipse.”
From: gregg biermann
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2012 8:32 AM
To: Experimental Film Discussion List
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Kuchar on the Oscars
The other thing here is that George's position on the mainstream commercial cinema was not purely oppositional -- that there is also some sense of homage to it in his work. You could even argue that he was alienated to some degree when it came to the avant-garde film community -- even as it embraced him. I remember in one of his diary pieces he documents a little lecture by Ken Jacobs at SFAI that he attended and he ends up walking out with Ken yelling after him "George, Come back here!" Then he ends up at some party in Hollywood sitting on a couch with Nicolas Cage (or some star like that) and he ends up feeling uncomfortably out of place there as well. Cannot remember the title -- sometime around 1991.
G
On 2/29/2012 8:43 AM, wlmailhtml:/mc/compose?to=scott at financialcleansing.com wrote:
Sorry, Fred, here I disagree with you.
I'm sure the Hollywood folks could have added many other people (many of them worthy) to the list of those recognized in that memorial moment, too. But that three of those recognized--George Kuchar, Tim Hetherington, and Ricky Leacock--are makers who worked outside Hollywood, as independents, is certainly cause for celebration. It means that, in a however limited way, independent filmmakers are being recognized more broadly, as they so rightly deserve. That Saint Mark Toscano, working at the Academy, has seen to the preservation not only of Brakhage's films but Robert Nelson's, and the work of so many other independents is part of that same recognition.
Like it or not, the Academy is one of few organizations devoted to cinema that has the clout to provide broad recognition, and I was thrilled to see their images on my TV screen on primetime Sunday night. Kudos to the Academy for recognizing Kuchar, Hetherington, and Leacock.
Scott
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] Kuchar on the Oscars
From: "Fred Camper" <wlmailhtml:/mc/compose?to=f at fredcamper.com>
Date: Tue, February 28, 2012 7:44 pm
To: "Experimental Film Discussion List"
<wlmailhtml:/mc/compose?to=frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>
> Yes Owen Land, Ricky Leacock, and Jordan Belson as well.
Oh, why not Hollis Frampton, and Stan Brakhage, and Gregory J.
Markopoulos? Or Oscars to Ernie Gehr and Bruce Baillie, who are among the
living?
Or, one might ask, how likely is any of that?
In all seriousness, am I the only one who finds the many posts in this
thread a little bizarre?
I thought it was nice when Brakhage was briefly acknowlwedged in the Oscar
montage, and it's nice when other experimental filmmakers are acknowledged
too. But when we start talking about awards, have we forgotten what the
Oscars are, and what values they represent, and how different the values
of avant-garde film are? Why should we expect, or even want, more than a
passing nod from the Academy as it is currently constituted? It's really
great that the money from the Oscar-cast goes to film preservation,
including of avant-garde work. Is there any reason to expect more?
Fred Camper
Chicago
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