J. Mabe wrote: "I also saw Peter Kubelka speak and present his
Metaphoric Films. This is the third time I've seen him speak and my
viewings of each of his films (except for Poetry and Truth) probably
number around a dozen apiece. Each time I hear him speak he speaks
on entirely new subjects and subsequently, each time I see his films
they seem like entirely new works. I still don't "get" or enjoy
Pause, but other that that it was a joy to see."

I'm jealous since I haven't had the chance to see any of Kubelka's
films more than four times although I had many chances to
inspect "Unsere Afrikareise" frame by frame.

I've seen "Pause" only once and it is one of his films that affected
me most deeply. It also was the key film to my appreciation
of "Poetry and Truth".

Repetitions of similar images or sounds has not been explored by many
people in cinema. The reason "Pause" is so unique is the fact that
Kubelka keeps repeating an almost absurd "happening" with only minute
changes so we are basically presented the same "form" again and again
although the way it affects us changes gradually as the
film "progresses". The fact that there is no way to make sense of
what the guy is doing only adds to the experience since after a while
we realize that we are presented an unsolvable and disturbing puzzle.
There is something that relates to the human suffering in what the
guy is doing and the fact that it is repeated again and again makes
the experience unbearable.

The "Poetry and Truth" also has some of that and I felt something
very similar in that film. The film keeps repeating similar (but not
exactly the same) images many times but something is changing in our
minds.

In his lecture in New York, Kubelka said something like "Bach is my
therapist" and I believe Bach is one of his influences in adapting
the idea of variations to cinema.


"I'm fantasizing about quitting school and just following him around
the country on his tour in a van like a Phish fan."

I love the idea! Imagine a van filled with Truth, Poetry and Bach
instead of Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll...

Yoel