Beat

‘A visual notebook which captures the existential angst and futility of bohemian life, evoking the despondent mood of a particular moment in American culture. The film is an abstract hide-and-seek featuring a man and woman wandering separately through the parks and streets of 1950s San Francisco. Perhaps they are escaping from their impoverished lives in search of freedom and enlightenment. She performs an invocation at an intersection and is later liberated, while he, less willful, ends up losing his marbles at the beach.’ – Mark Webber
‘As one looks at his film Beat one sees more of the humour in his camera movements. People are made to walk fast and look jerky in his films, and this is intentional humour; he was not content to shoot at eight frames a second – he skips frames so that people skip ridiculously in a way that rhythmically captures their intrinsic self-centeredness… To me, Beat evokes that era to a T – beautifully, precisely, wittily, and terrifyingly.’ – Stan Brakhage

This is an Anthology Film Archives preservation print.