The Wonder Ring

Experimental film maker Stan Brakhage climbs aboard the Third Avenue Elevated and rides around town in one of his more accessible works, The Wonder Ring. Recording the soon to be demolished Third Avenue elevated, it is an energized, crisply edited and unusually graceful and static work. Counter to the frenetic stylings of Brakhage the film is carried along by the natural flow of the train along with an added distortion bonus provided by subway car windows. Evoking other big city silent documentarians such as Vertov and Rathmann, there is little hint what direction this filmaker would take in the future. One that would be as challenging to the viewer as it was to the maker.

At times, Brakhage's works almost seem like the cinematic equivalent of the stream of consciousness writing style that is often associated with some of the greatest, yet most challenging, works of literature. Both styles are somewhat fast and disorienting, but they're also beautiful and interesting-a true look at the human mind and what surrounds it.

This film is definitely very interesting, despite having no story or structure whatsoever. It is really just a collection of images that Brakhage shot one day, and these images grow more and more fascinating as the film explodes into a festival of color and movement. Most of the visuals are unbelievably stunning(the train footage is especially breathtaking). Brakhage is very unique in the way that he makes mundane objects seem beautiful and surreal.