I hated Gummo like I've rarely hated any other movie. I will never, ever watch it again.

When I lent my copy of “Gummo” to a colleague a few years ago, he gave it back to me the next day and said “you’re completely insane”. Three days later, he asked to borrow it again. A week after that, he went out and bought his own copy.

Since first watching Gummo, I have been unable to articulate quite how I felt about it, what drew me to it, why it stuck with me in the way that it did. With this video, you have succeeded in doing just that. Thank you. ♥

I am so, so grateful this video was recommended to me. I’ll be watching everything you put out from now on. And, I’ll finally be going to watch Gummo. Thank you for this.

I cried. So good, Ben.

🤘🫥👍

I spend a lot of time talking about formative experiences and how they become enmeshed with the films we watch. I just wanted to wave a quick flag for new cinema, new experiences, new synapses 🔥🎥 Also - if I were to make this video today, I would add Anja Kreis as an interesting new voice

#uplifting #positivity #reflection

Brilliant

Well done , going to look up this film sometime. Cheers 🎉

It's been a while since the one on Zabriskie Point - so great to see the return of your video essays! Best, Matt

Thank you for your videos...

Thanks for sharing and creating a video essay that perfectly frames what it was like coming of age with VHS. So much of this is true for me as well. Right down to being looked after by the local punk rockers. Captain Sensible!

2 mins 30 seconds in and I have already liked and subscribed. You are going to go far, my friend. Keep up the content.

One of the greatest cult films no one is aware of.😂

Oh, and Circle Sky is a cool jam.

The show was groundbreaking for it's time Seeing long haired weirdos on tv, with a lot of in depth humor Head is a deep film and if it was made by another band probably would have been accepted more, but it was not for their core fans, and the people that would have appreciated it didn't go see it because of who the band were. They couldn't escape their image, though they tried.

It's interesting you took away such a positive message. I find this to be a very tragic film, in its own way. To me, it's about The Monkees discovering that it's impossible to stop being The Monkees. They live in a world of pure unreality. It's not merely that life is an illusion, but *they* are illusion and therefore inseparable from it. Enlightenment/escape is impossible for the unreal. Which is not to shut down your interpretation, of course. One of the fun things about Head is that I doubt any two people ever see it the same way. From what I understand, even the Monkees themselves disagreed over its actual meaning (if any).

I adore this film! I must revisit it! Great video. Instantly subbed!

Would have been wild if Charles Manson got in

7:00 I would like the hear the Magnolia story, please.

I never saw the movie though I was a fan of the TV show. However, it was the first thing my mond went to from the title, so I cliked. And now I'm subscribed. so that's fun.

I liked the Monkees musical group and TV show, but the movie was a big disappointment.

"Do you mean to tell me you don't see the connection between government and laughing at people?"

Man I hope this channel gets bigger! I'd share it, but I don't have any friends 😅

I don't know that it's very relevant to what you say, but it looks to me like "the shot" is actually two shots with a hidden cut.

Great movie.

you pick such interesting films for your video essays, i really loved the “Lonesome Cowboys” video, thank you, keep going

🤘my friend

Hey man! Clicked on this by chance and glad that I did. Yes, it may be difficult to get over the failures or loss of loved one, but let's not forget that there is joy in being alive and being a part of this show called Life. Keep on keeping on!

Great reflexions on movie! 👏👏👍

Antonioni's main thematic trope was isolation. Often times the languid pace of certain shots deals with externalizing visually what the characters might be going through internally. He's like an impressionistic painter who uses visuals versus dialogue to express character development and move story forward. Often times he's extremely subtle like Lavventura or La Notte, and others he's very overt and almost cartoonish about it like Zabriskie. I think you could've used Children of Men instead of the Dardennes. Much more widely known and probably better example, at least in invisibility. I think long takes tend to get ruined when they're noticeable, because it becomes just an ego thing of a filmmaker showing off. If you're already AWARE that you haven't changed the shot you're probably boring people more than building tension. A lot of European and Asian arthouse handicap themselves from getting more mainstream audiences in the West for their work when they disregard pacing for the sake of a longer shot language. That's why I think Cuaron happens to be more interesting as a long take filmmaker than most people we relate to the technique because you almost never reach that point of noticing the long take, it's all just about blocking and processing events in real time not extending shots for no reason. In Roma, one of the most devastating scenes is her getting stood up at the cinemas after telling her boyfriend she's pregnant. She steps outside to look for him and there's like this minute where she's just desperate and relizing what's happening, no dialogue, no camera move, just her alone getting drowned by the crowd noise and the street vendors. It's not only emotionally and cinematically perfect, it's a freaking time machine because almost every latin person of a certain age who grew up down there is TRANSPORTED in that mini scene. It's soooooo realisitc and just, amazing. Compared to certain blocking decisions in The Revenant or Birdman for example (same DP different director), where the camera scenes constantly feel like they're "acted" and "performed" because the camera has to swoop and circle around the characters reaction to the over the shoulders and swoop back, it's all just very noticeable and you'd save so much by simply editing. It became too much like VR as opposed to seeing a majestic long shot. Bi Gan's Long Day's Journey also gave me that same feeling. Masterful craft and inspiring to watch, but also quite dull and ultimately ineffective at creating lasting emotional impact. Very good hybrid directors who use long takes to frame specific scenes and moments of their films are Scorsese (Irishman, that PHONE CALL), Spielberg and Steve McQueen. In fact, Joe Walker always says that Steve has that innate ability to hold JUST until the shot makes its point, then we cut not before. Check out Twin Peak The Return for a filmmaker that is in complete control of film language and uses pacing almost as a thematic element. This entire video reminds me of that one episode ending where the barkeep is literally sweeping at the end of the night for 3 minutes in silence. Most episodes actually tend to end in atmospheric long takes as credits roll. Haunting.

Have you seen The Passenger by Antonionni? The penultimate shot in that one lasts 7 minutes or so before the next cut. That film is full of long take shots.

As you showed, ZP was not the first film to make use of time lapse and extended scenes. When I saw this film for the first time, I definitely did not spend time on the gas canister scene. I was enthralled by the opening student rebellion conversation, the sex/love scene in the desert, and of course the grand finale. But I think that the extended scene is a generally a "lost art" in cinema today. You mention the average length is 8 seconds. What's the average length today? The attention span has been compressed even further. We don't get the luxury of lingering in a particular scene, although some director still do make the effort to be generous to their viewers, I suppose. Your insight was ok but nothing monumental or revelatory for me. But hey, I watched your vid from start to end. And that was much longer than 8 seconds. ;-)

Creating a video essay on this right now, very interesting.

This is amazing

After watching The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, I wanted more of Bunuel and went for the shortest movie. And that is how I got to watch Simon in the desert. I really like the moral spirituality of it and am way absolutely pleased by the ending. I was not expecting it.

Well, this made me feel a lot of feelings..

Again this is just absolutely brilliant, and also incredibly moving. Wonderful.

I love absolutely everything about this. Everything. It's brilliant as a video essay, it's brilliant as a performance, it's brilliant as a short film. The tone you've nailed here, I haven't the words at this time of night to describe it, but it's just perfect, even aside from the specifics of what you're communicating, the way you've used your voice and the layering of the voice and the pace of it and the pace of the imagery alongside (your editing I mean, not just, like, the pace of the film whizzing by or crawling), it's intimate and feels conversational or maybe even like an overheard conversation in a strange way but it's also incredibly striking and compelling as a piece of sound design. I'm really glad I caught the mention of these video essays on twitter earlier tonight, for right from the off it's obvious you've hit something in this format this is just perfectly suited to your unique brand of analysis.

Fucking legendary films need to be shot like this now …

thanks for sharing this

Fascinating video essay Ben. Would be interested in seeing you develop these thoughts in further video essays. For example - the whole ‘slow cinema’ idea, where these extended shots are applied to a whole film, and you get a completely different pacing and cinema experience. I’m thinking of Bela Tarr’s films, particularly Werchmeister Harmonies. I wouldn’t want all films to be like that, but it does give it a special quality.

This is interesting. Time lapse is no doubt another form of long held shot.