June 30, 2009

Manny Scale (1)





"Like Straub, I think it's sinful to give the audience material it knows already, whether the material is about race relations or the car culture or the depiction and placement of a candy bar."
-Manny Farber





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3 comments:

Andy Rector said...

1991- Seed Field, Oil on board, 108x54in., Manny Farber

1987- Der Tod des Empedokles, Huillet & Straub

1984- Under the Hammer, Oil on board, 68x40in., Manny Farber.

6:49 PM
Anonymous said...

Andy, I guess this may be an offence to his host of fans (everyone included!), anathema and hellish condemnation, but frankly, I've been reading Farber for 40 years and it remains a mystery to me why is he so influential, appreciated, admired and even aped by younger critics. He is right and even bright some times, he coined some good or useful expressions, but much too often I find he surrenders to that dismally typical American temptation of "tongue-in-cheekism", whose repeated indulgence implies (or seems to indicate) superiority to film in general and the movie commented in particular. That usually requires going to extremes in order to get a laugh, a crack, a witticism that will prove how much above such things is the author of the pun. Which seems to me the opposite of criticism.
Miguel Marías

2:26 AM
Adrian said...

Fantastic, Andy, brilliant Farber-essay collages. You are the greatest!

9:51 AM

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