Akran

Akran

1969 · 110 min · ★ 7.8 · Drama

"A feature-length deluge of incessant, brilliant bursts of images (short takes and jump cuts, single frames in series, freeze-frames slightly altered between takes) it creates a Joyce-like dense and sombre mosaic of memory and sensory impressions, a texture instead of a plot, a dream-like flow of visually-induced associations often flashing by faster than they can be absorbed. Described by the director as an 'anxious allegory and chilling album of nostalgia,' its penetrating monomania is unexpectedly — subversively — realized to be a statement about American today: the alienation and atomization o technological consumer society is reflected in the very style of the film." - Amos Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.

Directed by Richard Myers

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Akran

Once Upon a Time in the West

A close match in mood and era.

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Zocalo

ZOCALO is a color, optically-printed experiment that uses as its base the Zocalo Square in Mexico City. Unlike my other films … it began as a class experiment … and because of my feelings towards the square itself … pursued it in all its variations … finished in December 1972.

Floorshow

Floorshow · 1978

In Floorshow he presents a rich stream-of-consciousness flow of images that encompass past, present, and fantasy, a contemplation of the filmmaking process, and film aesthetics. Myers makes a bolder-than-ever attempt to break down the barriers between the conscious and subconscious, the making of a film and the film itself. What Myers projects is an acutely personal vision of life so beautifully shaped and paced that we're able to connect with it even if we cannot expect to decipher its private meanings.

Deathstyles

Deathstyles · 1971

An experimental film by Richard Myers about the cultural devastation of the USA.

The Path

The Path · 1960

"My first film, THE PATH, was based on a dream about a group of people on an ‘outing’ or a picnic. The people in the dream meet and greet one another and then walk around and through old houses, barns, and buildings. Inside these structures they pass by other people involved in various activities. A woman is folding clothes. A man is making paintings. A young girl is sitting in front of a mirror trying on different necklaces." - Richard Myers. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.

The Coronation

The Coronation · 1965

Myers' CORONATION ranks with the two or three very best experimental films of 1965, according to George Manupelli

Wood Assemblage

Wood Assemblage · 1962

Wood Assemblage

A children’s art project done at the Norton, Ohio Elementary Schools in 1962. Using scrap wood the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders plan and make wooden sculptures that have a primitive totem-like quality.

37-73

As powerful and complex as is AKRAN, 37-73 is more taut, richer in associative meaning .... 37-73 is about dreams, about memory and its associations with nightmare and magic.

Jungle Girl

Jungle Girl · 1984

MovieDramaDocumentary

Jungle Girl, experimental film master Richard Myers’ intensely personal tribute to Frances Gifford, star of the Republic Pictures serial of the 1940’s, a gentle, dream, memory work of haunting visual beauty.

Moving Pictures

Moving Pictures · 1989

Moving Pictures

MOVING PICTURES began with a dream I had about a woman walking beside a woods and singing a beautiful aria. I didn’t remember the song, but for the film I selected Plaisir d’Amour by Jean Paul Égide Martini. The film soon became a series of other dream ideas as well. I wanted every scene in the film to be a tracking shot, moving from right to left like a dream scroll. I wanted the film to be quiet and contemplative, and I didn’t want to use subtitles.

First Time Here

First Time Here · 1964

First Time Here

"In FIRST TIME HERE, I attempted to freely associate two or three dreams with the story of the four women who had an atomic bomb display at a carnival. I wanted the film to be a fantasy which represented various life cycles and, in a sense, to be a celebration of the absurd mess man has gotten himself into."

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