Harry Smith, October 24th

Presented by Matt and Kyle

     Oh, Harry Smith. I have studied Harry Smith, in depth, so a lot of this presentation was reiteration for me, but I did have the opportunity to reflect on his film No. 12: Heaven on Earth and Magic that I had previously watched last week. My initial thoughts, according to my notes were, "I dont know what I just watched, but I am definietly on image overload." It was just so puzzling and strange and mesmerizing in a way where someone would claim to be on LCD but they actually aren't, but nevertheless do dumb things, and although this is due a re-watch in order for me to get it, the paper cut-out photographic animation was splendid enough to keep me interested: partly trippy, partly dreamy, partly dark, partly minimalistic, partly dark, partly humorous. The chaos in this film truly reflects the internal chaos in Heaven on Earth and Magic: flying hammers, wondering cows, dancing skeletal horses, edible sheep, disembodied faces, etc. Although it was black and white, it was the most colorful film I had seen due this celebration of disorder.