Poetry in Motion

Starring:Christopher Dewdney, Gary Snyder, Jim Carroll, John Giorno, William S. Burroughs, Ted Milton, Anne Waldman, Michael McClure, Jayne Cortez, Ted Berrigan, Ed Sanders, Robert Creeley, Amiri Baraka, Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, Tom Waits, Helen Adam, John Cage, Miguel AlgarÃn, Michael Ondaatje
Director: Ron Mann
Studio: Homevision
Product Type: DVD

Description

From Nicole Conn, director of the classic lesbian love story Claire of the Moon, comes a sensual and sexy tale that portrays erotic love between two truly beautiful women. The stunning Melissa Hellman (beloved Judy Francesconi model) stars as tall and handsome writer Byron, with the equally lovely Johanna Nemeth as the sculptress Cynara. Like a lesbian Wuthering Heights, Cynara-Poetry in Motion plays out a glorious lesbian romance full of brilliant chemistry, exciting love scenes and glossy production values. Erotic and atmospheric, this 19th Century period girl meets girl drama takes place amidst the moody surroundings of the Pacific Northwest.

Customer Reviews:

some will like it... I'm not one of them.......2007-01-04

hmmm... poor sound quality.. poor acting. Great costumes..beautiful scenery. I was unmoved by the plot (was there a plot?) and the sex scenes were lukewarm for my personal taste. I do know people who would like it. Maybe you would. As a poet the "poetry in motion" subtitle was laughable.

Nicole misses again........2006-12-03

Nicole Conn has "outdone herself" on this one? Maybe that's part of the problem. She should stick to documentary work, these movies (Claire of the Moon also) are lacking. She has yet to cast anyone who could "act", I mean really ACT, worth a nickel. The women in this movie were attractive, but they had no chemistry since they were just "models" posing and showed no hint of emotion that seemed real. The sound quality is poor, just like in Claire. There isn't much of a story, this is just a film of period costumes, glances, sexual tension and then "the act" itself. OK, it was sorta hot, but clearly choreographed. The artistry was nice though.

Oh my god are you serious?.......2006-10-14

Cynara: Poetry in Motion could do it's self a favour and just keep motioning on out the door and into the trash. I've seen alot of Lesbian movies and I think this would have to be my number one WORST. Just think, you'd have worked a whole hour to pay for this, don't waste your time or money.

Elegant, Beautiful, Romantic & Sexy.......2005-02-11

"Cynara - Poetry In Motion" is to the consortium of lesbian films what Star Trek (the original series) was to the science fiction genre. Sensual imagery combines with a delicate piano score (worthy of purchase by itself, I might add) to warm the blood and remind the imagination what romance erotica is supposed to be. While this film isn't a full ninety minute feature, the compelled re-watch more than compensates for its short duration. There are three movies every true fan of this genre should own (a series included here): "Cynara - Poetry In Motion" (for the artsy beauty of it all), "Claire Of The Moon" (for the truth to be told) and of course, "The L Word" (because this one has it all.) Next up: The DVD? Here's hoping!

Cynara Poetry in Motion.......2004-09-06

I love this film. I have watched it over 200 times & it is still fascinating. Both women are gorgeous. I love seeing a Lesbian film that is not pornographic & has only the women in it. Nicolle Conn has outdone herself. I am in love with Johanna Nemeth.
The music is wonderful.

Average customer rating:

The Musicality of Words
New medium will be an improvement
Poetry Brought to Life

Poetry in Motion
Starring: Christopher Dewdney , Gary Snyder , Jim Carroll , John Giorno , and William S. Burroughs
Director: Ron Mann
Manufacturer: Homevision
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000067IY5
Release Date: 2002-07-23

Description

Award winning director Ron Mann filmed over 75 poets and writers for what AMERICAN FILM called "the Woodstock of Poetry". Ginsberg, Burroughs, Baraka, Giorno, Ondaatje, Bukowski, and Di Prima are just a few of the "beat" poets featured for the first time in this groundbreaking film. Through the spoken word they reinvented language giving a fresh, loud voice to an era contending with major change. Like Walt Whitman before them, these poets felt their world deeply, and sought the assemblage of words to bemoan its injustices and celebrate its multitudinous beauty. For younger generations Poetry in Motion is one of the few remaining documents that capture the genius and innovations of post-modern American poetry. Home Vision Entertainment is proud to present this well-crafted documentary on DVD for the first time.

Customer Reviews:

The Musicality of Words.......2006-08-09

Poetry in Motion is a blast from the poetry past and shows poets struggling to get their ideas across in a variety of musical mediums. While the methods they use are entertaining to observe, I started to miss the silence needed to contemplate the subtleties of the language being used. The words flew by so fast and were crowded out with music and a leaning towards a more speedy presentation. At times poets played with ideas and created musical instruments to give background music and dimension to the readings. One poet wore a tie that played like a miniature piano.

Some of the poets seemed to be somewhat uncomfortable with the transparency of being on camera. As if by reading their poems, suddenly they were more intimate with the audience than before. Helen Adams came completely unglued in front of the camera, as if possessed by some muse. Her highly entertaining and eccentric style is even more enhanced when you start to observe her office surroundings. She playfully feeds off her poems and hardly reads them at all. She truly performs her poems with an advanced memory and captures all the subtleties of the language and sends your imagination on quite a journey. There are two readings on the DVD, one is in the "additional footage" section and could be considered a bit of a ghost story.

Throughout this DVD you can observe poets stepping out of their private writing lives and in front of the camera where they tell their stories, explain how they became poets and explore their artistic freedom with audience participation. This may inspire you to attend a poetry reading, read your poems out loud or to record your poetry on CD.

~The Rebecca Review

New medium will be an improvement.......2002-07-17

My knowledge of "Poetry in Motion" comes from its first incarnation as a CD-Rom released in 1994. I just dug this program back out the other day and thought to myself how much better it would be today if it were released on DVD. The video clips from the old CD-Rom were isolated to boxes about 2" X 3", with 1994-era resolution and streaming quality, so they left a little to be desired. I would expect the new format to improve things quite a lot, providing clear, full-screen video, in which case it will be a worthwhile investment for those interested in poetry-in-performance from about 15 years ago.

I would also hope that the DVD would offer more options for how to view each piece. On the CD-Rom the text of each poem is always on-screen next to the video of the performance, and I find myself having trouble watching the tiny video instead of following the text as it's read. It would be nice to be able to choose for oneself whether to direct one's attention to the performance or the printed text by adding or removing the words from the screen. **Update -- I bought the DVD and it doesn't include text copies of the poems at all. It's just the movie, chapterized so you can jump to particular performances of course. So it's far better for viewing the performances, but loses all the cool multi-media features of the CD-ROM. I'm a bit disappointed they didn't do more with the DVD format.

As for the poems and performances themselves, I'd say they're pretty middling overall, with of course a few bright spots. One of my favorites is actually "Four Horsemen," who perform a vocal quartet that is wordless and tuneless, but nevertheless very meticulously organized and musical -- sort of like four mad Bobby McFerrins performing a Charles Mingus score based on a lost Bartok string quartet. Anne Waldman's reading of "Makeup on Empty Space" is spectacular, with her signature energy and wit, and there are good outings by Tom Waits, Michael Ondaatje, Robert Creeley, and a couple of others. But a lot of the work -- both the writing and the reading -- suffers from a host of post-Beat cliches, making for some pretty tedious clips to sit through. As for Charles Bukowski, he declines to read at all. And as for the prescription he offers for contemporary poetry, it's amusing to a point, but ask yourself whether you really care to savor what he offers as the model for a poem.

Poetry Brought to Life.......2002-06-01

"Poetry in Motion" is an early documentary by Ron Mann, who is now more widely known for his documentaries "Grass" and "Comic Book Confidential". As with most of Mann's documentaries, he partly uses this film as an excuse to explore "alternative culture" by meeting with people he admires and capturing it all on film (something most people would love to be able to do for a living). But, as always with Mann, the product is meaningful and insightful, as well as entertaining and educational for anyone with an interest in the arts and culture, and not self-indulgent or fluffy.

In some of the most interesting parts of the film, Charles Bukowski bravely dismisses most poetry, including most poems considered to be classics, as boring and pretentious and lacking in any meaning to the average person, and is equally critical of most people making a living as poets. In fact, his rant strongly reflects the feelings (usually not so well expressed) of most people I knew in highschool. But while Bukowski makes a great point, the rest of the film manages to prove that at least some poets are not guilty of such crimes as it brings their works to life.

Most of the film consists of various poets, some unfortunately now departed, performing one of their poems, plus there are a few scenes wherein several of them explain their philosophies about poetry and its performance.

The performance styles of each poet varies as greatly as the contents of their poems. Some poets are accompanied by background music or actually turn their poems into songs. Others incorporate dance or other visuals. Others merely read out their poems (some, e.g. Jonathan Carroll, with more feeling than others), sometimes proving that a poem is an intrinsically beautiful thing without a big production. Of course very few people will enjoy all of the performances. I found a few (e.g. the Four Horsemen's) to be horribly pretentious, showing all style and no substance. However, even the less palatable performances do a wonderful job of illustrating that poetry can be given unexpected and exciting new form when removed from the page and given life and motion, and that one's experience of a poem can be significantly transformed merely by the way it is performed.

To mention a few of my favourite performances: Tom Waits performs a song, playing solo on an accoustic guitar (illustrating the fine line between poetry and music). William S. Burroughs delivers one of his poem/stories in his usual laid back, gravel-voiced, sardonic style. And, in an especially entertaining performance, Allen Ginsberg energetically sings an anti-government poem with a full rock band accompanying him while the audience dances and twists (Ginsberg sometimes joining in, wiggling and shaking on stage).

"Poetry in Motion" is an interesting documentary which should be especially enlightening to those whose exposure to poetry is limited to classroom dissections of those boring, stale poems Bukowski gripes about. But old converts will find it enlightening as well.

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