Experiments Inside the Mainstream

Reading through Bordwell and Thompson's genre breakdown of early experimental film, I was struck with the thought that while there continues to be a general disdain for (or indifference to) the blatantly avant-garde in cinema, we have also grown a measured, communal tolerance of the esoteric sensibilities of experimental film in our modern mainstream cinema.

I can remember seeing Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas in the movie theater.  Likewise, I saw Lars von Trier's Antichrist on the big screen as well.  While the combined US box office gross of these two films barely crosses $11 million dollars (roughly 5% of the budget of James Cameron's Avatar), you don't have to look far to see the echo of experimental film in more mainstream media.

Abstract Animation

The opening of Walt Disney's Fantasia (1940) employs Abstract Animation to the tune of Bach's Toccata and Fugue, letting the music work in a visual method just as much as leaning on the aural aspects of the classical piece.  Alfred Hitchcock used abstract animation to highlight the disorientation inherent in his feature Vertigo (1958). And director Paul Thomas Anderson enlisted the artist Jeremy Blake to create beautiful abstract interludes for his film Punch-Drunk Love (2002).

Still from Fantasia (1940)

Surrealism

Perhaps standing as the type of experimental filmmaking most prevalent in mainstream cinema, surrealism has ties to countless aspects of modern film.  From the recent feature Under the Skin (2013) to countless other genre films and dream sequences, surrealism works its way into various mainstream outlets.  You don't need to dig deep into the catalogue of Tim Burton to find examples of surrealist tendencies.  Although the movie as a whole lacks substance, the elaborate scenes inside the mind of a serial killer in Tarsem Singh's The Cell (2000) are very interesting examples of surrealism.  Perhaps the best known surreal filmmaker widely recognized by Hollywood is David Lynch, who unabashedly wanders into the abstract in almost all of his films.

Still from The Cell (2000)

Cinema Pur

The films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro routinely employ the aspects emphasized by the Cinema Pur movement; rhythmic shots that border on musical and long, sweeping close-up shots of various items and faces that communicate a sense of nostalgia without the need of dialogue.  Director Michel Gondry also uses practical effects including stop-motion in his movies, much like the artists of the Cinema Pur movement.  And finally, Alejandro Inarritu utilizes Cinema Pur techniques repeatedly in his 2014 Best Picture Winning Birdman by literally inserting rhythm into the film with a free-jazz drum soundtrack throughout the whole film.

Still from Delicatessen (1991)

This just scratches the surface of the reverberations experimental filmmaking has had on mainstream media.  It's difficult to discern why our attention span for experimental film is limited to short bursts, confined to dream sequences and montages, but the existence of the impact of the experimental filmmakers we have learned about thus far this semester is undeniable.