Scenes from Under Childhood (1970, Stan Brakhage)

I’ve watched part one before. Color fields flash and fade. Shots of the house and children have been turned into reddish defocused funhouse blobs. Almost-normal photography at the very end of a young kid feeding an even younger kid with a spoon. 2. Distinct textures in this one, not just more of the same. Added to the funhouse effect is some Melies house transformations with the kids as actors/witnesses, shimmering particle effects, and some really nice superimpositions, while the film processing looks like someone turning the color and tint up and down on a TV. The kids watch Shirley Temple on their own TV. Wild textures and flames, and a playhouse in the real house so he can mess with our sense of scale. 3. Ever more recognizable images of human activities. Getting out of the house more too, a picnic then a road trip. I never know how much of the apparently domestic footage is staged scenes vs. the rest of the family just living their lives while dad buzzes around them with a camera…

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