Robert Frank Movies

Fans of avant-garde jazz and blues performance will appreciate this avant-garde documentary, which intersperses discussions with Fred Frith and his band with rehearsal and concert footage. From time to time the filmmakers indulge in a bit of jazz of their own, screening seemingly random images with a meaning and order which is known only to them. The musicians, who are never identified, are expert improvisationalists, and are prone to using whatever object is at hand in order to explore the limits of sound. Occasionally, the band members indulge in a bit of philosophizing for the camera, in one instance telling a Zen-inspired story about "one hand clapping." ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Despite being a tiny and financially very poor province in Canada, Nova Scotia has had an artistic influence on the rest of Canada which is disproportionately great. Among other things, it has contributed many internationally famous musicians to brighten Canada's reputation worldwide (among them, Celine Dion and Ashley MacIsaac). This documentary explores the effects of a resolution made by a group of artists who lived by the credo: I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art. These artists lived and worked in and around the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) and spearheaded an important "postmodern" artistic renaissance in 1970s Canada. Most prominent among them is Garry Kennedy, NSCAD's first director. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This 1973 documentary reverently and uncritically investigates the mystic potentates, gurus and purveyors of hidden lore who were famous at that time. Among the individuals filmed are Swami Muktananda, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Pir Vilayat Khan, Baba Ram Dass, Yogi Bhajan and more. There is no narration; the individuals being filmed are allowed to speak for themselves. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This documentary about poet Peter Orlovsky's schizophrenic brother, Julius, is a film within a film and is generally regarded as photographer/documentarian Frank's masterwork. Brother Julius spent years in a mental hospital and upon release was put into his brother's care. Frank captures the brothers' day-to-day lives, as well as a road trip with Allen Ginsberg. At times the film breaks into another film about actors working on a film about them; cinematic devices -- including black-and-white, color cutting, and unsychronized sound -- lend an element of visual "schizophrenia" to the work. One of the players is a young Christopher Walken. The emerging document is a testament to the camera's voyeuristic tendencies and a commentary on the mentally ill in society as well as an investigation into the life of the filmmaker himself. ~ Denise Sullivan, Rovi

Robert Frank's half-hour, black-and-white short film Pull My Daisy has also been released under the title The Beat Generation, and for good reason. Featuring narration written and performed by author Jack Kerouac, the film presents an affectionate portrait of beat culture at its height through the jazzy retelling of a long, rambling evening filled with literary improvisation, philosophical discussions, and playfully foolish behavior. The fun begins when poets Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso, who portray themselves, converge on the apartment of one of their friends for a day of beer drinking and poetic discourse. They soon learn that their friend and his wife are planning to host a young bishop and his family for dinner and decide to stay around until evening. As the day continues, a number of other colorful characters also drop in; when the bishop arrives, and the poets begin to goad him with their loopy yet earnest questioning of religion and other institutions, things take on the flavor of an impromptu party. The film was shot on a minimal budget and without sync sound, which serves to further place the emphasis on the film's true star, the rhythmic prose of narrator Jack Kerouac. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi