A POEM IS A NAKED PERSON (Blank, 1974)
Criterion Collection, Blu-ray, Release Date Mar 29,2016
Review by Christopher S. Long
Critics with an auteurist bent are
sometimes accused of being in the tank for their favorite directors,
spinning even their lesser films as unappreciated masterpieces and
justifying even the most questionable decisions as inspirations by a
visionary whose only weakness is being too sophisticated for
audiences. Sometimes these charges are valid, cf. random critic
arguing “Under Capricorn” as Hitchcock's true masterpiece.
Regardless, I state this as a matter of
fact: Les Blank could do no wrong.
I've seen at least twenty-five Les
Blank films. They're all good. Many of them are great, but they are
all good. Every single one. Blank could immerse you neck-deep in a
local cultural scene, be it music or food-based or otherwise, with
the very first shot of a movie and take you deeper with each
successive shot until you drowned in the joy of it all. He could pull
it off because he had an uncanny knack for always pointing his
hand-held camera at the right place at the right time; he just had a
laser-beam eye, innate talent, sorry, you can't imitate it. We need
more talk about Blank as one of the great cinematographers.
His ability to capture the essence of
his subjects with efficiency and confidence yielded ecstatic
celebrations of creativity, eccentricity, and devotion like no other.
Though he picked his subjects wisely, I don't think it mattered much.
Ask him to shoot a documentary about a dumb brick just lying there
being a brick and I bet you would get movie gold. Les Blank could do
no wrong.
Musician Leon Russell, subject of
Blank's little-seen “A Poem Is A Naked Person” (1974), would not
agree. Russell and music producer Denny Cordell hired Blank to shoot
a documentary about the singer/songwriter/piano man/studio musician
and weren't at all pleased with the final results. In Russell's
words, it felt more like a film about Les Blank than about Leon
Russell, though a better way to put it is that it was a film about
what interested Les Blank. And that wasn't always Leon Russell.
It shouldn't have been such a big
shock. Blank was hired primarily on the strength of his early
masterpiece “The Blues According to Lightnin' Hopkins” (1968) and
while his film showcased Hopkins as an irresistible artist and force
of nature, it was also a movie about many other people and events
'round about Hopkins. Blank immediately displayed his career-shaping
belief that a man or woman could only be understood in the context of
their environment. Music comes from a specific time and a specific
place, and nobody was better able to illustrate that than Les Blank.
“Illustrate” doesn't suffice; maybe “radiate” comes closer.
Therefore, while “A Poem” shows us
plenty of Russell performing on stage (he's a little bit country, a
little bit rock 'n roll, a little bit blues), it also cuts away from
his performances to show life in rural Oklahoma where Russell was
building his recording studio and much of the film is set: nearby
fishermen at work, a local artist pontificating on consumerism while
capturing scorpions in glass jars, a man at a parachuting contest who
drinks a toast to the film then chomps down his glass, a hotel being
demolished, and even Les Blank himself enjoying a shot of booze and a
passionate kiss. Always for pleasure, that Les. Blank followed his
instincts and trusted his unerring eye for colorful detail, abetted
by creative, free-form editing with the crucial assistance of
long-time collaborator Maureen Gosling.
In one scene, we hear the traditional
wedding vows begin in voice-over, only for them to be interrupted by
a little girl we've seen briefly before as she insists that she has
not yet finished singing her song. Blank respectfully cedes the stage
to her so she can belt out “Joy To The World.” Why? It felt right
(in the editing room, that is). Plus there are all kinds of talented
performers in the world, not just the top-line talent. And isn't a
little girl innocently singing “Make sweet love to you” more
interesting than some dumb old wedding? It just works. Les Blank
could do no wrong.
Russell comes off pretty darned well;
he certainly rocks though he's no Lightnin' Hopkins. He gets into
arguments with other musicians and barks orders at his inner circle,
but he never seems anything less than driven and fully committed to
his craft. It's an endearing if occasionally troublesome portrait
that you'd think would please most subjects. However, Blank's film
wasn't Russell's idea of the film – perhaps he just wanted a
standard, worshipful, and more focused portrait of a genius artist –
and the two big personalities reportedly clashed on set on multiple
occasions. So Russell put the kibosh on the movie. It was his project
(Blank wasn't even promised a director's credit) and he didn't want
it to be seen, so it wouldn't be.
Except under certain conditions.
Blank's contract guaranteed that he could exhibit the film at
non-commercial venues as long as he was actually present at the
screening, and so “A Poem Is A Naked Person” subsisted for the
next four decades in a peripatetic existence, never quite
disappearing, but never quite all there either. Blank increasingly
came to view it as his (all but) lost masterpiece and its uncertain
status remained a thorn in his side for the rest of his life.
After Blank's death in 2013, his son
Harrod broke the long thaw with Leon Russell and set in motion the
steps that would eventually to the film's first official release, and
now to this Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection. And thank
goodness. I don't think it's Blank's best work. But it's pretty
darned good. Because Les Blank could... well, you know.
Video:
The film is presented in its original
1.33:1 aspect ratio. The film was shot in 16 mm so we get a heavy
grain look in this 2K high-def restoration. I felt that the opening
title sequence with its hand-made title cards looked a bit like
video, but I didn't feel like that about the rest of the film. Color
contrast looks subtle and entirely naturalistic – Blank seemed to
know how to film people in just the right sunlight to make them glow.
The tiniest bit of flecking is visible from time to time, but overall
this looks great and, of course, we'd have all been happy to have
just about any version of Blank's “lost” film.
Audio:
The linear PCM mono track is pretty
flat but crisp, which is what matters. The music won't blow you away
with depth but it sounds good, and all dialogue is clear. Optional
English SDH subtitles support the English audio.
Extras:
Criterion has packed a surprising
amount of extra features with this feature-length film.
First up is an interview with Harrod
Blank (Les's son) and Leon Russell (2015, 27 min.) Russell sports a
mighty fine beard in the movie. Forty years later the beard is even
more impressive and all-white. Russell is fairly diplomatic in
discussing his “difference of opinion” with Les regarding the
film, and Harrod helps by acknowledging that his father (who he calls
Les) could certainly be challenging at times, in no small part
because of his alcohol and drug consumption during the time of the
film. Blank and his team (including Maureen Gosling) spent two years
shooting the film, and also used the time (as permitted in their
contract) to edit two other Blank films, “Dry Wood” and “Hot
Pepper.” Harrod also discusses how difficult it was to clear the
music licensing for the film's national release.
The disc also includes a short clip (8
min.) of Les Blank in 2013, shortly before his death, at one final
screening of “A Poem” for friends and family. Speaking from
stage, a feeble looking but still energetic Blank (he was dying from
cancer) Blank mentions that he soon discovered that Russell didn't
much like being interviewed and so had to change his plans on the
fly. Of course he was pretty good at that.
“A Film's Forty-Year Journey”
(2015, 37 min.) is a documentary shot for Criterion which features
interviews with Harrod Blank, Maureen Gosling, and artist Jim
Franklin who we meet in “A Poem.” This feature includes more
details about Blank's for-hire experience on his first feature-length
film as well as the struggles in securing the film's belated release.
Blank actually returned to edit the film in 2011, but Harrod sticks
with the original cut which screened at select venues over the years.
“Out In The Woods” (13 min.) is an
impressionistic documentary by Maureen Gosling consisting of Super-8
footage she shot during the two years spent shooting “A Poem”
combined with text from letters she wrote to her parents back home.
It's a gauzy reminiscence with some richly layere sound design, and I
found it quite moving.
The disc also includes three Trailers:
a Theatrical (2 min.), an Extended (3 min.) and an Alternate Unused
(2 min.) all featuring the Janus logo for the film's recent release.
The slim fold-out insert booklet
includes an essay by filmmaker and critic Kent Jones.
Final Thoughts:
Just a few years ago, you had to work
hard to find a Les Blank film. With Criterion's release of the
sprawling box set “Les Blank: Always for Pleasure” and now this,
we have a treasure trove on our shelves.
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