Dog Star Man (1962)

Dog Star Man
Directed by Stan Brakhage
First viewing/Netflix rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] There are a lot of movies made for nobody. – Stan Brakhage[/box]

I had hoped that Heaven and Earth Magic would be the nadir of 1962 films selected to be seen before I died.  My hopes were dashed by this mess.

There is no need for a plot summary.  The film contains neither plot, dialogue nor sound. There are brief shots of a man – possibly on drugs – and his dog staggering through a snowy mountain landscape.

I had been warned – correctly – in advance that this was missable but decided it was worth checking out for at least five minutes.  The Prologue appeared to be made from a reel of film that had been pulled from a fire at the last possible second.  It looked like clips from the salvaged film were edited together at random.  After ascertaining that there would be no sound, I continued with some work looking up every few minutes to verify that nothing interesting was happening.  For completists or those on LSD only.

Clip from the Prelude – the first minute is dedicated to a black screen