Joseph Beuys Movies
- 2007
Art, science and philosophy come together in this adventurous cinematic project from filmmaker Ken McMullen. A multi-media presentation which features film and video segments alongside live performances, Arrows of Time is structured around a cops-and-robbers tale which begins in 1971 and ends in 2006, while along the way its characters are involved in advanced physics research at Stanford University's Linear Accelerator Center. As the story progresses, McMullen weaves in such diverse elements as dramatic interpretations of the poetry of Jorge Luis Borges and John Milton, a demonstration of an experimental camera that can capture fleeting moments of objects in motion, philosopher Jacques Derrida explaining how a new grammar in cinema would effect the work of the ancient playwright Sophocles, and artist Joseph Beuys weighing the impact of the written word over physical action. Edited in real time to heighten the impact on the audience, Arrows of Time received it world premiere at the 2007 San Francisco International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1979
This 60-minute documentary features avant-garde German artist Joseph Beuys and his unique sculpture art during a 1979 exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. The tape features Beuys' work, interviews with him, and footage of him speaking before the patrons at his Guggenheim showing. The main feature of the video is Beuys telling a little of his own history -- how his life changed when the Russians shot down his German airplane during World War II, as well as his opinions on art, mankind, the state of the world, and some of his artistic inspirations. This documentary captures the world of an artist at the pinnacle of his fame. ~ Forrest Spencer, All Movie Guide
- 1974
An informative look at the first appearance in public by Joseph Beuys. Here he discuses his political and artistic philosophy. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1974
A documentary that features lectures from 1974 by Beuys at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1972
This German artist offers a discussion on his sculpture and performances from the Dusseldorf Studio. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1972
More discussions with this German artist on his sculpture and performances. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1970
This 1970 experimental opus from composer-cum-director Mauricio Kagel (subtitled as "a report by" the filmmaker, and shot entirely in black-and-white) explores the subject of Ludwig von Beethoven in non-narrative, non-linear mode, breaking down the barriers between fiction and documentary to produce an essay film hybrid. Kagel first employs a string of dissociative images shot "from the vantage point" of Beethoven, with a first-person-perspective tour through his personal workspace, his cellar, his bathroom and his hayloft. The picture then abandons this semblance of narrative and moves completely into free-form mode, with a satirical discussion about the composer and his compositions culled from television, and various riffs on the subjects of his psychological impact on listeners, the size of his cranium, his deafness, and the like. At one point, Kagel also conducts an extended interview with one of the great man's descendants. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
