Minute Bodies: The Intimate World of F. Percy Smith

F. Percy Smith (1880-1945) was a pioneer of nature documentary filmmaking, noted for his groundbreaking use of time-lapse photography, underwater photography, and microcinematography, in capturing the life cycles of plants and insects—shooting much of the footage on the grounds of his suburban London home. Some of his short films made for the Secrets of Nature and Secrets of Life series have been previously available, but Minute Bodies offers a compilation of brief excerpts from Smith’s various works—newly edited under the direction of Stuart Staples, lead singer of the British alt-rock band Tindersticks into a luminous and almost hallucinatory series of eerily beautiful images, accompanied by a band musical score (with guest artists) that pulses with rhythm while also employing unusual instruments. The result naturally jettisons the instructional purpose behind Smith’s work—without narration or captions, it is virtually impossible for anyone but experts to identify what is occurring in the cascading snatches of film. But Minute Bodies works on its own terms as a sort of cinematic tone poem combining entrancing images and throbbing music. An obvious labor of love for Staples, the film succeeds in putting Smith’s still-amazing visuals to a new and aesthetically effective use. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)