Decasia: The State of Decay - A Film by Bill Morrison

Director: Bill Morrison (II)
Studio: PLEXIFILM
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

nostalgia for the present
Entropy
boring "art film"
The vinegar effect
Hypnotic Cycles of Death & Rebirth

Decasia: The State of Decay - A Film by Bill Morrison
Starring: William S. Hart
Director: Bill Morrison (II)
Manufacturer: PLEXIFILM
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00013F2ZY
Release Date: 2004-01-24

Customer Reviews:

nostalgia for the present.......2007-02-12

Seems odd in 2007 to append to this DVD a rider "This is not a feature film," but so be it. Decasia is not narrative cinema, nor are most of the unearthed samples constituting its core DNA. It's raw eschatology, expertly compiled and edited; a core text, a meditation. It is gorgeous, portentous; a shimmering extract. However...

Decasia's most glaring problem is not its formalist reversion--Morrison is clearly celebrating sumptuous visual splendor, devoid of any historical or cultural underpinnings. There's nothing wrong with that; anonymity is part of the point. Rather, it's ineluctable evidence that we have not come terribly far in our level of filmic sophistication, since there is nothing in this work that could not have been realized in American independent film by 1970. And, surely it should have been. Perhaps it's a more a comment on desuetude than decay, if not on sheer intellectual laziness.

While the nitrate stock employed is virtually all pre-war, it bears repeating that the cinematic language is over 50 years old--Deren, Brakhage, Baillie, Jordan, Sharits, Conrad and all the usual suspects across the history of postwar art and experimental film pioneered these tropes. Most of them are long dead and their many imitators are long-forgotten. Obscurer still are these oxidized discards spliced by Morrison. Abraded, reticulated celluloid, solarized emulsions and melting anatomies afford us witness to a slow, gliding collapse. There's more than one nostalgia at work here.

As for Gordon's soundtrack, it owes very little to Glass, but a great deal to John Adams and especially Terry Riley, with whom he has performed. The patterned repetition and harmonic devices of the score were well-established as exemplars of Minimalism by the mid-Sixties; Penderecki, Ligeti and Xenakis also shout through the brass charts, and the glissandi of massed strings is heavily lifted from Gloria Coates. Overall Decasia should be seen as an exquisite, salutary homage, and highly recommended on that basis. It would fail if cast in any other light.

There is a humorous anecdote of two great photographers, Aaron Siskind and Frederick Sommer on a jaunt outside Jerome, Arizona. Aaron disappears over a hill with his camera. Hours later he returns with dozens of exposed rolls and finds Fred asleep in the car. He asks Fred if he's done any work and Sommer picks up a pile of discarded x-rays he'd found at an abandoned hospital nearby, declaring, (I paraphrase) "here are my images, already developed and printed!" Morrison's contribution occupies a kindred space. Like the recurring Mevlevi Dervish, it implies recirculation, balanced with, or set against, ephemerality.

Entropy.......2007-01-17

I saw this in a film class I was taking a few years ago while I was attending Calarts. The director spoke about the film, entropy, life is decay, etc etc etc. At the time I was "into" some of David Carson's (graphic desinger) similarly deteriorated looking work in print so it seemed like it could be an interesting compare and contrast. Sounded cool enough so I stayed to watch it. The texture of the footage is beautiful and there is this weird mystical transcendant vibe to the whole film especially with the music. It actually put me to sleep after like 30 minutes, as I was extremely stoned at the time, after which I awoke to the same doldrumatic (if thats even a word) sequence of images. It was painfully boring. Excruiciating as matter of fact. I wanted to get up and leave but I forced myself to stay. I wanted to yell that it sucked, but in some silent masochistic way I enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of noise music. It was abrasive in a strange way. As a I matter of fact I think Merzbow should remix this film ala DJ Spooky Rebirth of a Nation. Definite art film (I saw so many bad ones while I was at that school) but for some reason this one stood out. Most of my other classmates hated this film and wrote terrible criticisms of it, but a part of it stuck with me which is the reason I bought it I suppose. Cool film. Boring beyond belief but in a good way much like Antonioni's L'Avventura. Peace.

boring "art film".......2006-06-24

This film is a bunch of random pieces of old, deteriorating, film being played with music. Doesn't sound too interesting - and it isn't. According to the interview section on the DVD, Morrison explains that this film is some sort of symbolic expression of the decay that all life goes through. While this sounds like a nice analogy, the film doesn't really convey anything deep or philosophical. Just watching a bunch of old damaged film doesn't really end up conveying much of anything really, and all we get is to watch old film! The visual effect is sort-of cool for about ten minutes, then its just boring. Its all black and white and just seems monotonous, and we get the point about decay in the first five minutes. After that, it feels like Morrison is just harping on and on about his thesis point of decay with endless examples. Essentially the film is like an argumentative essay that just keeps droning on and on and on. The music in this film is excellent however, if you like abstract and dark ambiant music. Overall, the film isn't that great but the soundtrack is excellent.

The vinegar effect.......2006-01-30

Old nitrate-based film stock rots. As it decomposes it gives off an acetic acid odor, and the process is called `the vinegar effect' by film preservationists. It also becomes encrusted with dirt and grime, develops holes and scratches. It's one of arts' most fragile mediums. Usually, when the decay is far enough advanced and the film stock can't be salvaged, it's tossed out.

Accompanied by Michael Gordon's concert of the same name, Bill Morrison's DECASIA is 70-minutes of blighted film stock rescued from the garbage bin and stitched together. DECASIA isn't going to appeal to most people, I think. On the interview Gordon mentions the `out of tune piano,' whisks rubbed on brake drums, and other such odd musical instruments he uses to add noise to things. The music, which dominated the show in the original presentation when the orchestra played live at a concert hall while the film was projected on a screen, is urgently pensive. There's a definite dirge-like quality to it, well in keeping with the images.

And these images certainly won't appeal to most people. The rescued film stock doesn't narrate a beginning-middle-end story. Rather, it creates a mood, relying more on juxtaposition than plot progression to deliver the goods. Although I can see what Morrison is striving for (helped that he talks about it on the radio clip,) namely decay and impermanence, I didn't get that deep into it. It simply didn't grab me. On the other hand, the film was entertaining as a work of abstract art. The patterns of crust and flares and nitrate smears make for interesting animation. Watching the old image emerge from and get swallowed by the eroded film was, at times, fascinating. An interesting experiment that works well enough, recommended if you're in the mood for an experimental film.

Hypnotic Cycles of Death & Rebirth .......2005-03-14

Is decay and discord beautiful? Does this movie explore our fascination with the analysis of destruction itself?

A dancer twirling sets a hypnotic mood and then a cloud of smoke or clouds is taken over by what appears to be modern art bubbles. Then from these bubbles, a beautiful woman quickly appears and then dissolves into a seascape.

Raindrops of decay fall onto the film as images keep you guessing. Are you viewing waterfalls or waves? Are butterflies dancing on the screen or is the film decaying in a unique way. Camels run from impending doom as the film deteriorates and tries to dissolve them into the sands of time. Ghostly ships glide through an ocean and strangely the decay looks like tornados attacking the ship. A man escapes drowning only to seem terrorized by his own disappearance into time.

The Basel Sinfonietta Orchestra sets the surreal mood and can at times set you up for terrifying thoughts. Is this a horror movie or a film's worst nightmare? Images of dancing in the sunlight are drenched in the horror of death, the death of a distressed image. The music deceives you into thinking every moment is filled with certain doom. What you are viewing is not what you are thinking. This then becomes an excellent study in perception. If you can pull back and view yourself while you view this movie, you will learn something new about yourself. There are a number of underlying concepts.

As ominous music turns sunny days into nights of hell, you are perpetually on the verge of horror. What will happen next? What image will disappear before your eyes? I enjoyed the variety of decay. Like a child curious about mold on bread I viewed this movie with childlike wonder. The way the timeworn archival stock disintegrates is truly fascinating.

Decasia keeps your attention because you never know what will happen next. The movie chews at the screen like a dragon with huge teeth and there are even images that look like dragon scales or murky monsters. Humor does appear now and then in an amusement park and while children are riding in a school bus.

The images I enjoyed most where the sections of film that turned into watery ponds. They seemed to be reflecting a story where raindrops play. The spinning wheels are at times hypnotic and the black-and-white images are stunning.

As the music reached a fever pitch, the discordant bliss can become a little overwhelming and the contrast between what you are actually viewing and the impending doom starts to bring you back to reality.

~TheRebeccaReview.com

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