While nearly every Brakhage film is personal to some extent, few of them are personal in quite the same way as "For Marilyn". The title of the film directly tells the viewer that this film was made for Marilyn Brakhage, Stan's wife at the time, and through handpainted words and colorful visuals and the occasional flashing of footage of clean skies and mysterious windows, the film becomes an unusually touching tribute to the power of love and family. There is also a slight religious element when the words "Praise be to God" appear on screen, making me theorize that many of the colorful, handpainted flashing imagery in this film could be seen as a visual representation of Heaven or, more probably, of the soul's journey TO Heaven. Like almost every minor Brakhage film, "For Marilyn" can get fairly tedious at times even if it is only eleven minutes long, but for true fans of Brakhage it has enough bursts of beauty to provoke at least mild interest.
3 Reviews
Cautio: your eyes may EXPLODE from watching this
Quinoa198429 March 2018
And just when you think it can't get any faster... That final minute ("Praise be God" is the text that precedes it) is just... You got to see it.
Brakhage said this his favorite of his own films. It's certainly up there. This is like one hundred thousand images rushing at you (and 90k of those near the end) to the point that you might lose your mind if you're not careful. Try to imagine if that final orchestra portion of the Beatles "A Day in the Life" were hand-painted pieces of film going 24 frames a second. This is passionate, alive cinema where the pulse is big enough to see from space. I assume the day I see this in a darkened theater on actual film with nothing but projector noise behind me will be the day I go insane.
Brakhage said this his favorite of his own films. It's certainly up there. This is like one hundred thousand images rushing at you (and 90k of those near the end) to the point that you might lose your mind if you're not careful. Try to imagine if that final orchestra portion of the Beatles "A Day in the Life" were hand-painted pieces of film going 24 frames a second. This is passionate, alive cinema where the pulse is big enough to see from space. I assume the day I see this in a darkened theater on actual film with nothing but projector noise behind me will be the day I go insane.
Flickering and colors
Horst_In_Translation11 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"For Marylin" may be one of filmmaker Stan Brakhage's most personal movie, but honestly I cannot say it appeals to me any more than most of the rest he did and that is not just a little bit. His approach here is very much what he usually did and it's no exception to the rule. If you like his works, you will like this one. If not, then you won't and I am certainly among the latter. I have seen experimental works by other filmmakers that I enjoyed, but the lack of story, plot and characters in Brakhage's works makes it impossible for me to appreciate these films. I give this one here a major thumbs down once again. I personally found it a really boring 10 minutes. Don't watch.
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