Venom and Eternity
Director: Jean-Isidore Isou
Year Released: 1950
Rating: 2.0
'Lettriste' Isou starts with the idea that "the image shall be the complement of the sound," and structures his film that way, forgoing any consideration for the interests of the audience in favor of ranting incessantly over the soundtrack (accompanied by what can only be described as 'tribal chanting' playing in a loop) and scratched-up, sometimes upside down images to go with its second and third acts. Since his intent was to make an 'anti-film,' I suppose he was successful, but it's hard to feel uplifted or stimulated by something designed to frustrate - I consider myself a tolerant viewer, but I never felt he was going anywhere especially profound with this other than to alienate and aggravate. Compared to the work of Situationist Debord - namely his 'movie' The Society of the Spectacle - this comes across as a cheap shot.
