For this short write up I went to Rutgers Film Co-op to attend a viewing of a few Harry Smith films. I made it just in time to watch Heaven and Earth Magic. Prior to watching the film, or attending yesterday’s class, I wasn’t too knowledgeable on Smith and his work; what I was told about this particular film (and about much of his work) is that it was cutout animation style and experimental.

Having some understanding of cutout animation and how difficult it is to make, especially during the time in which this film was created, the first thing I noticed while watching the film was how incredibly time consuming it must have been to create. The film starts out rather simple with sound effects to go with the motions he creates on screen but these motions are working within 24 frame per second intervals, making what I was watching even more incredible.

During the first few minutes I immediately thought of Monty Python, the animator of the sequences in that film had to be inspired by Smith — the fluidity and direction is just too similar and connected even though the style of animation is not.

With all that being said, I wandered for much of the film after the first 15 minutes or so, which is to say it felt too long and tedious for what it was — which may have been the point of the film in the first place, one with it’s strange plot. It was obvious that the film took months, even years to make, but it didn’t feel like something to be watched on a big screen — more something to be watched in a museum at one’s own pleasure. If I was a curator I would have the film playing in a museum in an exhibit on its own, perhaps next to other works of his or paintings by other arts, so that civilian viewers can come and go as they please while not being held captive to watch the entire 60+ minute film.

This is not to say the film isn’t brilliant, but the setting just didn’t feel right and it doesn’t appear to be something that must be watched start to finish.