Avant-garde / Experimental
Avant-garde is a word from the French, meaning 'ahead of the crowd'. In contemporary English, we'd say it's on the 'cutting edge'. Avant-garde filmmakers want to experiment with new ideas, forms, techniques, and expressions - and are often said to be 'ahead of their time'. Avant-garde films are characterized by a high degree of experimentation - whether it be in manipulation of narrative materials, highly stylized visual representation, or radical departures from the norms and conventions current at the time, avant-garde film is always a vehicle for the filmmaker's expression. Surrealism, abstract studies of light and form, Dadaism, and impressionistic studies of people and things figure heavily in early works of the genre.
Below is a Alice's extensive collection in this genre.
Right: The famous eyeball scene from Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali's 'Un Chien Andalou'.
Manderlay (2005)
7.4/10
Director: Lars von Trier
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Willem Dafoe, Isaach De Bankole, Danny Glover, Lauren Bacal...
The second in Lars von Trier's 'American' trilogy, after 'Dogville' is shot in the same theatrical style, and features Bryce Dallas Howard in the Nico... Read more
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (2005)
6.4/10
Director: The Brothers Quay
Starring: Amira Casar, Gottfried John, Assumpta Serna
A characteristically surreal and stunning blend of live action, animation and puppetry from the Brothers Quay. On the eve of her wedding, opera singe... Read more
The Wayward Cloud (2004)
6.6/10
Director: Tsai Ming-Liang
Starring: Kuei-Mei Yang, Chen Shiang-Chyi, Lu Yi-Ching
Intoxicating, daring, and beautifully photographed, Ming-liang Tsai's latest effort is indeed one naughty adventure of a film offering plenty of food... Read more
Renegade ( aka Blueberry ) (2004)
5.2/10
Director: Jan Kounen
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Juliette Lewis, Michael Madsen, Temuera Morrison, Ernest Borgnin...
This loose adaptation of Jean 'Mobius' Giraud's comic series 'Blueberry' stars Vincent Cassel as the lawman whose past comes back to haunt him when th... Read more
By Brakhage: An Anthology (2003)
Director: Stan Brakhage
Artist and filmmaker Stan Brakhage has made nearly 400 films over the past 50 years, never mainstream and always fascinating. Brakhage turns his camer... Read more
Radical Digital Cinema Volume 2: Summer Moon (2002) / Fools (2003)
Director: Hanno Hackfort, Tom Schreiber
Starring: Oliver Mommsen, Laura Tonke, Christoph Bach
Two more films from Wim Wenders' digital cinema project. 'Summer Moon' (AKA 'Juminond') features a young couple who, only though they've just met, wi... Read more
The Brothers Quay: 1979-2003 (2003)
8.4/10
Director: The Brothers Quay
This 2-disc set celebrates the work of the amazing identical twin animators, The Quay Brothers, who have produced a unique body of work, and made a ma... Read more
Mysterious Object at Noon (2000)
7/10
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Based around the surrealist story-telling device known as 'Exquisite Corpse', this unique film from Thailand had the director travelling around villag... Read more
Spectres of the Spectrum (1999)
6.4/10
Director: Craig Baldwin
Starring: Sean Kilkoyne, Caroline Koebel
Mixing bizarre narration with footage taken from educational films, vintage TV shows, cartoons, commercials, and early cinematic works, filmmaker Crai... Read more
Village of Dreams (1999)
7.1/10
Director: Yoichi Higashi
Starring: Keigo Matsuyama, Kyozo Nagatsuka, Mieko Harada, Shogo Matsuyama
An enchanting, blissful look at the magic and terror of childhood. Identical twin brothers, now successful artists, recall the summer of 1948 when the... Read more