Erik's thoughts on "Fragments of Kubelka"

      A visual biography and career overview immersed in film and cooking theory, Martina Kudláček's new doc profile, Fragments of Kubelka, may very well stand the test of time as the definitive document of avant garde filmmaker Peter Kubelka. Creator of seven films and teacher and lecturer to thousands of eager students, Kubelka ignites the film by discussing his beliefs, examining his antidotes, and, in certain portions, fondly reminiscing on his childhood upbringing. A fascinating person to listen to and learn from, Fragments of Kubelka, shot over 2007-2011 and featuring classroom talks, interviews, and film clips, may be the best movie about filmmaking to be released this year.

     Over four enlightening hours, Kubelka reiterates a smorgasbord of definitive observations, noting for instance that cinema is still and it is projection with puts it into motion (showing a sculpture of a bird in flight, each movement captured in space, Kubelka then discusses the inner workings of a zoetrope) and that the digitization of actual film loses something in its transformation to video; far from being a Luddite, Kubelka nonetheless refuses to digitize his films, as the fact that they are shot and thus projected on film matters greatly. Staying true to this belief, only glimpses of his work are shown in this documentary, which was shot and projected on video.

     In a class lecture, we see Kubelka asking his students, row by row, to unspool a role of film before passing it backward, over their head, to the row behind them. If they can use their senses to see, feel, etc. the film cells, then they ultimately become closer to the process of physically making and viewing them.

     Much of the documentary takes place within Kubelka's home in Austria, and the camera gets a sense of space as well as the history within it. A collector of cultural art and objects from around the world, Kubelka's first item collected was a cube within a cube, and it fascinates him to no end. Throughout the film, we will see many of his cherished items, some in a rapid series of close-ups and others representing the human form, i.e. a statue of a nude African woman. 

     Later, we realize Kubelka's love for another type of put-together architecture: film editing. Sitting at his cutting table and going through scenes from Unsere Afrikareise, Kubelka breaks down the perpetual motion evident in the fluidity of his shot selection; Kudláček concurrently implements footage of an old television program featuring Kubelka describing the same film. The use of nonsync sound and its juxtaposition within the imagery greatly excites Kubelka, and the first half of Fragments features the man's voice almost exclusively.

     The second half opens up to include others influential and influenced: fans discuss his works' personal impact on them (a projectionist gets a tattoo of film frames from Arnulf Rainer) and their work with him (the opening of Anthology Film Archives at the Public Theater is represented by stills of Andy Warhol, Jonas Mekas – with megaphone in hand, Ken Jacobs, and others gathering to celebrate a new major art hub). It also delves heavily into Kubelka's love for cooking, from its role as metaphor to the differences found in personal and professional cooking (robotized and mechanical = impersonal). Kubelka notes that cooking is a transformative process, combing elements which have no business being fused together, and the film follows him as he lovingly prepares a meal for himself with copious amounts of butter. That the film opens and concludes with Kubelka at his dinner table is no accident.

     A filmmaker whose work was commissioned and then despised by its commissioners, Kubelka's trials and tribulations on display here represent a man who made art his way and to his understanding. Wait until you hear how he made audio tracks using nothing more than a typewriter. Always inspiring, Martina Kudláček's work here, dedicated to Kubelka's children, should prove to be catnip for students and scholars of the medium. Watching Fragments' at the opening night New York premiere at Anthology, as I did, with Kubelka in attendance was, to say the least, a very worthwhile experience.

Highly Recommended