New York Eye and Ear Control

I am usually not a person that gets bored while watching films. Even in the worst films, I find something good to focus on. When watching New York Eye and Ear Control, I found that to be very difficult.

The film attempts to be an art demonstration, and succeeds in creating a few intriguing images. Unfortunately, most of the scenes are shallow and overly long. I discovered that early on. There is practically no plot or trail of events... everything just blends into a bland display. The music is okay but gets repetitive. The black and white imagery and comparison of shadows and people are provoking concepts but do not develop into anything significant. After the first 10 minutes or so, I entered a phase where I wasn't really paying attention to the content, although though I was still attempting to decipher any meaning of the film. A couple scenes caught my eye, such as a cutout being covered by beach sand and the first couple scenes with real people, but most of the content was forgettable. I considered leaving, but figured I would give the film a chance for redemption. The final part gives a little bit of satisfaction because it wraps up the ideas nicely.

To its credit, New York Eye and Ear Control is reasonably successful as being a piece of art. It has an interesting message about human behavior and personality overall, but many of the individual scenes are artificial and bland. It leaves you with a deep impression, whether good or bad. But that doesn't make it a good film. It was a boring, slow, plot less, and tasteless presentation. Avoid this film unless your a die-hard art admirer or have infinite patience.

With a title like NEW YORK EYE AND EAR CONTROL one might expect a finely crafted, well-honed piece of cinema, something given quite a bit of care and finesse, as that is what the word "control" implies where film and art meet most times. Instead, director (and I use that term as loosely as possible) Michael Snow has chosen to unleash upon the general viewer a banal reel of unembellished detritus under the somewhat protective umbrella of the 'Avant-Garde' film movement.

N Y E&E C is, simply put, one of the most boring, annoying and completely insulting films I've ever had the displeasure to watch. Improper exposures, lack of composition (both within the film frame and structurally), empty subject matter, run-on scene-takes, and a soul-strangling "freestyle" Jazz soundtrack (imagine bleating goats, whinnying horses and trumpeting elephants all thrown in a blender and set on "Mince") only begin to exemplify what this film pushed out on the audience like so much afterbirth. It became clear quickly that Snow really didn't have much of a plan going into the shooting or editing of the work, and throwing in his famous Walking Woman cut-outs seemed like a weak attempt to legitimize whatever artistic leanings the piece might be able to scrape by on. Once again, the Avant-Garde inherits another legacy of half-baked, infantile, self-satisfying palp.

My lack of interest soon slipped into depressive-level boredom, which was shunted over into sheer frustration and finally pure rage by the film's end, and by my observance of the audience surrounding me I'd say I was clearly in the majority with my dis- enjoyment of NEW YORK EYE AND EAR CONTROL. By the film's end I was very near to throwing my shoe at the screen in protest. (The only reason I deigned to made it through was because I had come to see the subsequent films in the program at that screening.)

1/10. One of the truly most horrible viewing experiences of my life; Utter garbage!