Steidlville

Robert Frank The Complete Film Works fills a long overdue gap by presenting every one of Frank’s more than 25 films and videos, some of them classics of the New American Cinema of the 1950s and 60s.

C’est vrai (One Hour) – 60 minutes – 1990

This film is a single-take of Robert Frank and actor Kevin O’Connor either walking or riding in the back of a mini-van through a few blocks of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. At a first look it seems to be a spatial event capturing the somewhat uncanny cosiness and intimacy of New York street life. But a closer look reveals how Frank recapitulates a tradition of North American experimental cinema harping on the perpetual motion of the protagonist and/or the camera. How much this is a tossed-off home movie about Frank’s neighbourhood and how much it’s a contrived board game spread out over several city blocks remains an unanswered question.

Candy Mountain – 91 minutes – 1987

This film is about travelling, both in a physical and mythical sense, and about music. Julius (Kevin J. O’Connor) hears about legendary guitar maker Elmore Silk, who disappeared some time before. He pretends to be acquainted with the man and sets off to search for him.

Run / New Order – 3 1/2 minutes – 1989

Whenever there are aesthetic rules in force, Robert Frank ignores them. While making a music video for the famous British band New Order in 1989 he simply refused to follow the usual guidelines. Although Frank did produce a three minute thirty-second film as called for in his contract, thereby providing a visual basis for New Order’s song “Run”, he created images which contrasted starkly with the industry’s assumptions and presumptions. The type of film he made was what the industry has the least possible use for. An anti-clip.