Le retour à la raison

Mildly entertaining twaddle - definitely gets better towards the end.

This short montage by Man Ray is interesting for fans of avant-garde, its photographic, surreal, Dadaist structure is highly experimental, and it appears to be the forerunner to the more rounded, structured Emak-Bakia, finished three years later. Man Ray has a particular penchant for close-up out of focus shots of revolving objects, which gives a strange jamais-vu feeling about many of the average household objects he spins in front of his camera. The image of Kiki's nude torso revolving and reflecting strips of light is particularly beautiful. However, Man Ray's best work, in my opinion are his home movies (particularly the film of the matador and also the colour film featuring a very young-looking Pablo Picasso)

Quick and to the point (not that there is much of a (clear) point), Man Ray's works are some of the most unique in artistic history, and his film, in particular, are quite fascinating. While Ray is better known for still photography, he takes full advantage of the grand invention of cinema by infiltrating his films with constant movement. Shapes are deformed and inanimate objects become animate...it's all very avant garde and will probably please those who enjoy the experimental, surreal, and unique.

A good experimental short film. Good photography and attention to the lights and shadows. You can see the attention and photographic skill. The shadows on the woman's body are visionary!

I'm not an artist nor am I someone who can be considered to be artistically inclined. I am not going to sit here and pretend to understand what it is that I have just watched. However I will state that in my opinion it was a pleasant viewing experience. It really is the director danglingn a bunch of shapes in front of a camera for 2 and a half minutes before being shown a human figure. Soemhow I did not mind watching this. If anything I had a good time. Would I watch this again? No, probably not however, if it was showns to me again I would not protest. It is only 3 muinutes long. It does invoke a strange sensaiotn of nostalgia but I cannot for the life of me figure out why. I had by the end experienced glee like a child being shown a sparkly toy, dread and discomfort, and confusion all at diferent intervals. Impressive.