Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The past thirty years have seen the proliferation of forms of independent cinema that challenge the conventions of mass-market commercial movies from within the movie theatre. Avant-Garde Film examines fifteen of the most suggestive and useful films from this film tradition. The films discussed include No. 4 (Bottoms) by Yoko Ono, Wavelength by Michael Snow, Serene Velocity by Ernie Gehr, Print Generation by J. J. Murphy, Standard Gauge by Morgan Fisher, Zorns Lemma by Hollis Frampton, The Ties that Bind by Su Friedrich, From the Pole to the Equator by Yervant Gianikian and The Carriage Trade by Warren Sonbert. Through in-depth readings of these works, Scott MacDonald takes viewers on a critical circumnavigation of the conventions of movie going as seen by filmmakers who have rebelled against the conventions. MacDonald's discussions do not merely analyse the films; they provide a useful, accessible, jargon-free critical apparatus for viewing avant-garde film and communicate the author's pleasure in exploring 'impenetrable' works.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction
• Part I From Stern to Stem: Yoko Ono: No.4 (Bottoms)
• Wavelength
• Serene Velocity
• Print Generation
• Standard Gauge
• Part II Psychic Excursions: Hollis Frampton: Zorns Lemma
• Riddles of the Sphinx
• American Dreams
• The Ties That Bind
• From the Pole to the Equator
• Part III Premonitions of Global Cinema: Warren Sonbert: The Carriage Trade
• Godfrey Reggio: Powaqqatsi
• Naked Spaces: Living in the Round
• Journey from Berlin/1971
• The Journey

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

The 15 films featured here are not of the ``midnight movie'' ilk (though John Waters is mentioned in passing), but works whose form, structure, and content challenge the most basic conventions of mainstream film: Peter Watkins's The Journey is more than 14 hours long; Yoko Ono's No. 4 (Bottoms) is an 80-minute montage of bare bottoms in closeup. McDonald (English and film, Utica Coll. of Syracuse Univ.) examines the technical and artistic features of each film, placing it in context within the avant-garde's trends and movements. An earlier book with a similar focus, Stan Brakhaga's Film at Wit's End: Eight Avant-Garde Filmmakers ( LJ 10/1/89) is more readable, but lacks MacDonald's depth of analysis; since there is virtually no overlap in terms of artists covered, libraries serving serious students of such movies will want both.-- David C. Tucker, De Kalb County P.L., Decatur, Ga (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

At last! A work on avant-garde film that is not as confounding as the films. Where most books in the field are either historical or abstrusely theoretical, this one successfully undertakes to explicate 15 avant-garde films in a clear, accessible manner. Moreover, MacDonald's purpose is to demonstrate how the avant-garde cinema critiques the pervasive context of mainstream narrative/commercial film. He succeeds in his aim to show how this challenging and unfamiliar cinema can enliven even conventional film viewing. As a result, this is the perfect text for an undergraduate course in the area and for the general reader, who in some utopian miracle might find access to these particular films. In Part 1 MacDonald demonstrates how five filmmakers (Yoko Ono, Michael Snow, Ernie Gehr, J.J. Murphy, and Morgan Fisher) refute the assumption that the cinema is a neutral technology that requires unquestioning enjoyment. Part 2 presents five critiques of how commercial film narrowly fetishizes narrative procedures; contributors are Hollis Frampton, Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen, James Benning, Su Friedrich, and Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi. In Part 3 Warren Sonbert, Godfrey Reggio, Trinh T. Minh-ha, Yvonne Rainier, and Peter Watkins reject the assumptions of a national and nationalistic imperative in cinema. The climactic study of Watkins's 14.5-hour The Journey (1987) pulls together all MacDonald's themes and would alone be worth the price of admission.