“Give me two hours a day of activity and I’ll take the other twenty two in
dreams- provided I can remember them.” – Luis Bunuel
This debut short film made by Bunuel in collaboration with artist Salvador Dali received wide acclaim and still continues to amaze the audience with its surrealistic visual imagery. There is no plot, no story and no connection among all shocking images and still it is considered avant-garde film ever made. Neither the title (in English- An Andalusian Dog) nor any images is intended to make sense. It’s out and out world of surrealism. As per Oxford Dictionary for Advanced Learners, Surrealism – a twentieth century movement in art and literature trying to express what is hidden in the mind by showing object and events as seen in dreams etc.
What we witness in images is distorted dreamlike irrational imagery- a classic close up shot of a razor blade slicing through the eyes, a cloud slicing the moon in half, a palm with running ants, a hairy armpit, a man trying to take sexual advancement touching boobs and butt of a lonely lady, a man dragging dead donkeys on a huge piano, an accident witnessed from the window. So what’s unique about the film!!! It’s the first short film projecting surrealistic images in its totality without using any conformist strategy of film making. It is the first handmade film made on shoestring budget without any studio financing.
Bunuel wrote in his autobiography, “We had to open all doors to the irrational and keep only those images that surprised us, without trying to explain why.” Isn’t he right? There are many things in life so abstract to explain in words. Simply we like them or hate them with no explanation at all.
Anyone for whom Cinema is passion has to watch it several times with trying not to rationalize the images. For me, it’s an experience like watching a confusing portrait in art gallery which I failed to understand what it means and still I like to watch it again.
Can’t rate something like this.
No comments:
Post a Comment