Thursday, April 17

Today, we viewed several short films that are part of the series, "Becket on Film". This series is an attempt to make films out of most of Samuel Beckett's plays. Samuel Beckett was a leading 20th century playwright. He was born in Ireland, but lived in Paris in the 20s and 30s when Paris was the center of the artistic world. He wrote plays that founded the "theater of the absurd". These plays are part of the avant-garde and are largely a response to the world wars. The plays are interesting as they do not tell the audience what to think, they leave that to us.

The first film we looked at was "Breath". This film was directed by Damien Hirst, who is a very famous British artist. The film was very short and was simply a deep inhale and exhale while certain objects floated around. These objects (hospital things, computers, ashtray with a sawstika, trash, etc.) have no order and are quite chaotic. This combination of items and the breathing are indicative of an attempt by Beckett to comment on smoking and its very real negative effects. By showing the hospital items it shows what technology has given us, but the cigarette ashtray shows how easily everything can be taken away. I found the film particularly difficult to watch as my dad passed away from lung cancer. Then again, it also reinforced the power of film as I was deeply affected by a few seconds of film.

The next film we watched was "Act without words 1" which was directed by Karel Reisz. The film features a man trapped in the desert. Throughout the film, objects such as water, boxes, scissors, etc. that could potentially save him appear. However, as soon as the objects are within his reach, they are taken away by some unknown force. This shows again how easily things can be taken away right when they seem to be within grasp.