Film ist Rhythmus: Rhythmus 21

A kind of perpetual monochromatic Mondrian-in-motion. Seen with Sue Harshe's appropriately stark modern score; although the inevitable question is posed of whether the meaning changes with the interpolation of seemingly unconnected audio. Given it's an abstraction, perhaps less so.

Hans Richter was not just a filmmaker; although thanks to works like these he is better remembered as such, he was also a painter who explored modern styles of painting (like those of the Dadaists). One of these styles was Cubism, which basically reduced paintings to no more than geometric shapes and colors; a very simple style, but one which was growing increasingly popular in the 20th century. "Rhythmus 21" (which is now 100 years old just about) is essentially a transfer then of that concept to film: there are no actors or anything onscreen in this three-minute film, which is the first in a series of "Rhythmus" shorts by the filmmaker (the other two were "Rhythmus 23" and "Rhythmus 25"). Instead, it is like watching one of Richter's paintings moving; the man himself has been quoted to say he saw his films as continuations of his paintings.

That said, this is an extremely simple film which can mainly be enjoyed in the context of less being more. All the film consists of are squares and lines shrinking and moving before the audience for around three minutes, with the rest of the space occupied by either a black or white background. Compared to the work of Stan Brakhage, it's hardly exceptional, but then again, it's cubism, all geometry, just transferred to film to allow these shapes movement and independence from the canvas. I could see it being enjoyed better as a painting than as a film, as that largely appears to be what Richter was going for; but regardless, an interesting beginning to one who would later take his definition of abstract to a whole new level.

A lot of misleading facts, most of them spread by Richter himself are surrounding this film as well as the subsequent Rhythmus 23. I've tried to sort them out: The first public screening was held on July 6th 1923 in France. The opening title 'Un film de Hans Richter' which still can be seen on surviving prints may have been for years the only title the film had. The first public screening held in Germany occurred on May 10th 1925. This time it's been called 'Film ist Rhythmus', but probably only in Ads. By then the film was roughly two minutes long. Over the next two years Richter must have worked on the film and extended it to almost seven minutes. Eventually before October 16th 1927 when the film(s) was(were) screened at the Film Society in London, he must have split it up and later on called it Rhythmus 21 and Rhythmus 23. By calling them Rhythmus 21 respectively 23 he apparently insinuated 21 meaning 'made in 1921'.He thereby tried to predate Walther Ruttmann who on April 27th 1921 screened the first 'absolut' film.

Hans Richter's 'Rhythmus 21 (1921)' has modest enough aspirations, and I suppose it's fair to say that it fulfills them adequately. As far as "geometric shapes increasing and decreasing in size" cinema goes, this is a vaguely interesting short film that takes a simple concept and does simple things with it. Though ostensibly exploring rhythm through geometry, 'Rhythmus 21' is more interesting in terms of illusory three-dimensional depth, with each shape's status as a foreground or background object seemingly changing as its actual size changes. Though I can't recommend this avant-garde short as being especially inspiring or insightful, the aesthetically-pleasing visuals make for a worthwhile enough three minutes.

'Rhythmus 21' is also quite different from the three other works I've thus far seen from Hans Richter. 'Ghosts Before Breakfast (1928),' 'Inflation (1928)' and 'Race Symphony (1928)' were live-action short films that put the technique of Soviet montage to good use, and nobody can deny that Richter had a superb eye for editing. The abstract animation of this effort is not technically notable, but nonetheless signalled the arrival of a new wave of avant-garde film-making in the 1920s. Richter would soon be joined by the likes of Man Ray, Walter Ruttmann and Viking Eggeling {in fact, Ruttmann probably got there first with 'Opus I (1921)'}. I wonder what 'Rhythmus 23 (1923)' has in store for me!

I understand that Hans Richter's "Rhythmus 21" is an example of an absolute film, a genre that consists of shapes overlapping to music. This three-minute short is worth seeing as a historical reference as the start of Richter's Film Ist Rhythm series. It's nothing particularly special. The masterpieces from interwar Germany were "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", "Nosferatu" and "Metropolis".

I wonder which direction the era's cinema would've taken had the Nazis not taken over.