Dog Star Man
Director: Stan Brakhage
Year Released: 1961
Rating: 3.5
Towering epic by Brakhage about the birth of the Universe, sexual reproduction and the development of man, failure and death ... or whatever you want it to mean, really (he leaves it up to you, echoing Jodorowsky's famous quote about El Topo in the 1970s: 'if you are great, [it] is great; if you are limited, [it] is limited'). The section marked "Prelude" is positively gorgeous - he uses solar photography and abstract images of nature - and the sections with Brakhage filming himself (and his dog) suggest the myth of Sisyphus, as the lead 'character' scrambles to climb up the hill but can never quite make it. The running time is just enough to take - dealing with the four-hour version (containing some of the footage from this particular work) might not be so bearable.
