Brion Gysin (1916-1986)—painter, writer, performance artist, and countercultural guru—is hardly a household name, but Nik Sheehan's documentary clearly demonstrates that Gysin was influential on some better-known authors, musicians, and filmmakers. FLicKeR opens with a conventional biographical sketch that is primarily dependent on photographic stills and overlaid narration, but fairly quickly expands to incorporate a collage of newly-filmed interviews (featuring acolytes such as Iggy Pop, Marianne Faithfull, and Kenneth Anger, as well as friends and acquaintances), archival footage, and artwork, while covering topics that include Gysin's collaboration with William S. Burroughs (which resulted in the “cut-up” composition technique of scrambling images and words) and Gysin's belief that he was “channeling” the 10th-century Persian Old Man of the Mountain, also known as the King of the Assassins. But the central thread running throughout the film concerns Gysin's construction of the so-called “dream machine,” a contraption (using a light bulb, turntable, and cardboard cylinder) designed to create a hypnotic strobe effect that, according to Gysin (who collaborated with British mathematician Ian Sommerville), could bring a person—if they stared intently enough—into a higher state of consciousness without using drugs. An insightful look at a figure perhaps more notable for his oddity and effect on others than his individual accomplishments, this intriguing profile is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)
FLicKeR
(2008) 75 min. DVD: $26.98: individuals (avail. from most distributors); $129 w/PPR: public libraries; $249 w/PPR:colleges & universities (avail w/PPR from www.alivemindeducation.com). Alive Mind. Volume 24, Issue 3
FLicKeR
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