Amazon.com video review:
The word Baraka means "blessing" in several languages; watching
this film, the viewer is blessed with a dazzling barrage of images that
transcend language. Filmed in 24 countries and set to an ever-changing global soundtrack, the movie draws some
surprising connections between various peoples and the spaces they inhabit,
whether that space is a lonely mountaintop or a crowded cigarette factory. Some
of these attempts at connection are more successful than others: for instance,
an early sequence segues between the daily devotions of Tibetan monks, Orthodox
Jews, and whirling dervishes, finding more similarity among these rituals than
one might expect. And there are other amazing moments, as when sped-up footage
of a busy Hong Kong intersection reveals a beautiful symmetry to urban life that
could only be appreciated from the perspective of film. The lack of context is
occasionally frustrating--not knowing where a section was filmed, or the meaning
of the ritual taking place--and some of the transitions are puzzling. However,
the DVD includes a short behind-the-scenes featurette in which cinematographer
Ron Fricke (Koyaanisqatsi) explains that the effect was intentional:
"It's not where you are that's important, it's what's there." And what's here,
in Baraka, is a whole world summed up in 104 minutes. --Larisa Lomacky
Moore
Amazon.com video review:
Short 1: Invention represents the first comprehensive attempt to
compile multimedia content on DVD in a magazine-like format, and it's a
welcome addition to the digital realm. Originally released on the defunct
Polygram label as Short Cinema Journal, Vol. 1, the first
installment in the Short series is an above-average mix of
documentary, animation, and live-action shorts, even if
several of the entries are nearly a decade old. The DVD is divided into six
topics--"Marquee"; "Hello, Dali"; "Reality"; "Sound Bit"; "Minutes"; and
"Junkdrawer"--the best highlights are to be found in "Hello, Dali,"
"Reality," and "Minutes,"
which contain interesting, even brilliant, bits. The excerpt from Shape
Without Form is a
surreal, four-minute exercise in angst and it shares a slot with the most
noteworthy discovery on the DVD, the creative and ingenious Will
Vinton-produced Mr. Resistor, which is a cleverly animated, Road
Warrior-like
ride through the electrical world. In the "Minutes" chapter, British
director
Michael Apted discusses the premise that "film is the poetry of ordinary
life," and although eight minutes can't begin to cover a director's career,
this segment does its expurgated best.
There are segments from the Ron Fricke film Baraka (also available
as a full-length DVD), which still dazzles after
nearly two decades with its austere lesson in nature and humanity. Black
Rider is an Oscar-winning German short that chronicles a black man's
plight on a tram, with a delightful twist ending. A slight disappointment,
George Hickenlooper's Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade is the
original short that inspired Billy Bob Thornton's acclaimed feature film
version, and it pales in comparison. Likewise, Henry Rollins's Easter
Sunday in NYC is little more than an angry, pointless, and dated rant
for misfits everywhere. Some of the films--like the clay-animated movie
spoof The Big Story, featuring Frank Gorshin's hilarious impression
of Kirk Douglas--are sure to please those who never saw them on the film
festival circuit. On the whole, the good outweighs the mediocre in this
deft compilation, boding well for subsequent volumes in the series.
--Paula Nechak
