Flaming Creatures

In its day Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures may have been important, controversial, and revolutionary. Today, the work feels more like a footnote. A canonical piece of cinema with occasional moments of beauty and interest: dizzying camera work, a fly on a heavily textured cloth, some campy musical choices. But, when the content of the film is less interesting than the worn surface of the print, what can be said? A man playing with himself. An artist playing with a camera. Both are rather masturbatory.

~ by Ryan Sarnowski on September 12, 2006.