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Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine
| Tscherkassky concentrates on central motifs from Sergio Leone’s classic The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, zeroing in on Eli Wallach stumbling across a vast cemetery and the anti-hero’s head as he dangles from the gallows. Tscherkassky intercuts the latter image with countdown leader, ironically delaying the saving bullet shot by Clint Eastwood. Hereby the very film tears and suddenly descends into pure, soundless whiteness. Only by way of its defects is the medium of film made tangible. The flaws in the system ¬– blisters, scratches, distortions and cracks ¬– overwhelm and overlay the narrative, shatter the illusion and give rise to a richly ambiguous, new story. (Stefan Grissemann)
In the above-mentioned ranking of the Greatest Films of All Time (see Outer Space), Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine was honored with the ranking of position #894 (Critics poll).
Printgrafik: instructions2.jpg
english print version |