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This documentary tells the story of the legendary artist Marie Menken (1909-1970), a Lithuanian immigrant who became one of New York's outstanding underground experimental filmmakers of the 1940’s through the 1960’s, inspiring artists such as Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol, Jonas Mekas, Kenneth Anger and Gerard Malanga. The large (a hefty 6’ 2”), loud and tempestuous Menken—reportedly the inspiration for the character of "Martha" in Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf—also became a Warhol Superstar, making memorable appearances in 'The Life of Juanita Castro' and 'The Chelsea Girls'.
Originally an abstract painter and collage artist, Menken produced nearly two dozen experimental shorts, using a hand-held Bolex to create rhythmic patterns of light, color, form and texture, visual poems that extracted beauty from the world around her. NOTES ON MARIE MENKEN features lengthy excerpts from many of her films as well as never-before-seen footage by the filmmaker salvaged from basements and storage vaults, including a camera "duel" for Bolexes on a Brooklyn rooftop between Menken and Andy Warhol.
Complemented by a jazzy score by New York composer John Zorn, NOTES ON MARIE MENKEN features interviews with the filmmaker’s friends, relatives and colleagues, including Alfred Leslie, Kenneth Anger, Gerard Malanga, Peter Kubelka, Mary Woronov and Jonas Mekas. They discuss Menken’s distinctive film technique, her artistic struggle and personal life—including a night-shift job at Time magazine and her marriage to filmmaker Willard Maas—and provide colorful reminiscences of both Menken and the New York art scene of the era.
| Catalog Number: MC-1089 |
Type: Feature |
Genre: Documentary |
| Copyright: 2006 |
Length: 97 minutes |
Format:
DVD Region: 1 |
| TV System: NTSC |
ISBN: |
UPC: 854565001176 |
| Label: Icarus Films |
This title is available in Europe for Wholesale - List Prices: £19.99 / 29.98€
Wholesale Purchasing:
Program MC-1089 is available for wholesale from Microcinema DVD. Contact info[at]microcinema.com or call at +1-415-447-9750
Exhibition:
Microcinema is not authorized to represent this title for exhibition. Write us for this contact information.
2010-01-20 Film Comment
By Jesse P. Finnegan
The excerpts (plus the bonus Menken films included on the disc, including the seminal 1962 Glimpse of the Garden and the 1945 Visual Variations on Noguchi) are stunning, as are the archival clips.
| 2010-01-20 The New York Times
By Manohla Dargis
Shines a quavering if welcome ray of light on a largely forgotten figure in the American avant-garde film scene...salient details and observations emerge in the documentary.
| 2009-10-29 Variety
[A] Handsome tribute… Interviews with various avant-garde luminaries help to excavate Menken's memory and reputation from the footnotes of film history while clips and entire reels of her rarely seen oeuvre are intercut. Beautifully transferred clips.
| 2009-10-29 San Francisco Cinematheque
Affirms her powerful legacy to avant-garde film history.
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