Flex

By far Cunningham's best work to date. I saw it in London at the Apocalypse exhibit as well. I was so engaged in the film that it looped three times before I even thought about seeing the rest of the exhibit. I always thought that the fight between the man and woman was symbolic of the emotional tension/attraction/repulsion between the sexes. There was so much fear and anticipation I practically chewed through my lip. I really enjoyed watching people get up and leave. One old fellow actually stopped and turned around as he was leaving and shook his head at those of us who seemed to be enjoying ourselves. Regardless, it's a little masterpiece. I heard a rumor that there were to be 50 gold discs released, but a very good source later told me it was untrue. It's a real shame that such a short excerpt ended up on CC's director's label disc. The compilation, IMHO, was released about 10 years too soon (not that CC isn't talented, he's just not had the same amount of time to cultivate his art as the likes of Gondry and Jonze)and it would have benefited greatly with the addition of Flex.

I saw this in its entirety at the royal academy's otherwise appalling 'Appocalypse' exhibition a few years back. I don't really want to try and theorise about it, but flex seems to be an exploration of the human body taken to its extremes both sexually and physically, and clearly shows (like his music videos) Cunninghams preoccupation with the human form and how it functions when juxtaposed/fused with the Aphex Twins unsettling electronic landscapers. The brutality that Cunningham brings out of the man and the woman in FLEX is superb, and for once it seems that there is actually an artist who is able to create a fight between a man and a woman that doesn't hint that this is a battle of the sexes... rather it just presents people as sexual and violent... its a bit like Sarah Kane's play's. Unfortunately the DVD of Cunnighamns work only contains 3 Mons of this 17 min film.. upsetting..