Little stabs at happiness

Duration: 18

Year Published: 1963

Creator: AMERICAN FEDERATION OF THE ARTS

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: In this experimental work, the filmmaker shows scenes with Jack Smith (another avant-garde filmmaker) and street scenes. Each part of the film is a separate moment without narrative causality. As if he were unable to bear the unqualified presence of his images, in the second section, Jacobs intrudes on the soundtrack apologizing for his monologue by saying that he wanted some sound other than music to relax the audience's restlessness at this point. He then launches a full-scale attack on the presence of his film. First he undermines the temporal integrity of the visual episode; then he attempts to involve us in the lives of the people we see on the screen.

Complete Record: In this experimental work, the filmmaker shows scenes with Jack Smith (another avant-garde filmmaker) and street scenes. Each part of the film is a separate moment without narrative causality. As if he were unable to bear the unqualified presence of his images, in the second section, Jacobs intrudes on the soundtrack apologizing for his monologue by saying that he wanted some sound other than music to relax the audience's restlessness at this point. He then launches a full-scale attack on the presence of his film. First he undermines the temporal integrity of the visual episode; then he attempts to involve us in the lives of the people we see on the screen.