From: Alexander Soifer (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Jan 11 2004 - 16:41:36 PST
Fred Camper wrote:
> Alexander Soifer wrote:
>
>>
>> I would call a film "perfect" if I value it and wish nothing to change.
>
>
> Sure, but I've seen documentaries which I "value" for the information
> that they contain and which don't seem to have any flaws, but which
> aren't very interesting as films. This makes "perfect" by your
> definition not a very useful category for me. I suspect you think "The
> Color of Pomegrantaes" is also a great film, as many do, but your
> definition really can be applied to a film that has some modest value
> and no obvious flaws.
>
> I'd much rather have a film that's aesthetically great and that changes
> the way I see, even if there are some obvious mistakes in it, even flaws
> that should have been changed. Example? There's a recognizable shot of
> trees in Brakhage's "The Text of Light," a rarity in that film, that has
> never completely worked for me. It's a few seconds in 70 minutes, and
> it's interesting in that it sets the other shots off in a certain way,
> and also in the way it shows one of Brakhage's aspirations for the film.
> But it's not "perfect" the way the rest of the film seems to be. In
> fact, it's messy. And there's something to be said for messes too.
>
> Fred Camper
> Chicago
Fred: By "I value" I certainly meant "high aesthetic value". So, it
seems to work as a definition:
"Perfect" = "high aesthetic value" + "my feeling of no need for any
changes".
But of course, this is not synonymous to "great", as you pointed out
previously.
I can think of many great works that are not perfect in my opinion.
Moreover,
some mistakes of worthy directors are more interesting than mistake-free
works of others.
Best,
Alexander Soifer
Princeton
-- Alexander Soifer Professor of Mathematics, Art & Film History University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Cell: (719)351-5307 Visiting Fellow/Research Collaborator Department of Mathematics Princeton University Fine Hall, Office 315 Washington Road Princeton, NJ 08544 (609)258-5790 FAX (609)258-1367 Long Term Visiting Scholar DIMACS, Center for Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science 4th Floor, Office 426 Rutgers University 96 Frelinghuysen Road Piscataway, NJ 08854-8018 (732)445-0075 FAX (732)445-5932 http://www.uccs.edu/~asoifer __________________________________________________________________ For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.