Scenes from Under Childhood Section #1

This is among the more discussed and respected films on the "By Brakhage: An Anthology Volume II" release by Criterion, and I honestly cannot see why. It does offer some very interesting and, at times, quite beautiful filmmaking techniques, and the ending was kind of cute and funny, but other than that there isn't much of interest here. At times, I was certainly admiring Brakhage's overwhelmingly beautiful and intense style, while at others the film was just kind of bored and was making my eyes hurt. Don't get me wrong, it certainly has its moments of classic Brakhage beauty, but this is among the least compelling of his films that I have yet to see.

I would also like to add one other note: I really wish that less imagery of fully naked children was put into some of Brakhage's films. I understand that they are so young that they just happen to walk around the house that way and that this is no child porno, for Brakhage wasn't a twisted pervert, but it makes me kind of uncomfortable at times. I don't know, it just feels weird.