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1/6/13

Dali & Bunuel "Un Chien Andalou"




You can't discuss experimental / avant-garde film without noting Un chien Andalou. It's a classic in this genre. The film was released in 1929 and has no real plot or linear narrative (basically the definition of experimental film). Like Maya Deren, whose work I wrote about earlier, it has a dream-like quality and surreal imagery. Apparently the film came about when "Buñuel told Dalí at a restaurant one day about a dream in which a cloud sliced the moon in half "like a razor blade slicing through an eye". Dalí responded that he'd dreamed about a hand crawling with ants. Excitedly, Buñuel declared: "There's the film, let's go and make it.'"" In the film they are actually slicing though a cows eye, though it is meant to seem as though it is the woman's. For the era, to me anyway, that seems pretty advanced, seeing as though its quite convincing editing. If you want to read more about the film you can here. Basically this is a staple in not only experimental film, but cinema in general. (P.S. The film was originally silent, but was later shown with a score. If you want to watch the film as it was originally shown, just watch it on mute)

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