I saw this film projected many years ago at the Whitney Museum in NYC, in uncomfortable seats while I was sandwiched between two friends. I almost immediately heard the snores of one of my cohorts, unable comprehend the verbal and visual assault that we were engaged in. There's very little opportunity to see this film, simply because it won't work on video and because of its four and a half hour length. What we do have here is Michael Snow presenting us with an essay on the multiples of twenty-four. Film runs at twenty-four frames per second, and in this essay we have 24 individual sequences interrupted by the brief use of multi-colored flickers to break up the syntagmatic axis. Not all of these sequences work; some are completely forgettable, but I did find Snow's use of backwards dialogue and super-imposition to be quite intriguing. The opening was quite funny, where the title of the film is broken up into multiple anagrams, running in a scroll across the screen for what seemed like an eternity. I also recall an ongoing shot of people copulating with bizarre commentary on the soundtrack. However, the most fascinating sequence involved video artist Nam June Paik in a demonstration of sound and light as people in a room created verbal sounds as lights flashed across their bodies. I remember this as being a very slowly paced part of the film, yet it was the most peaceful and seemed to be the centerpiece of the film, perhaps serving as an intermission of sorts. Certainly, this is not on the same level as 'Wavelength,' or 'La Region Centrale,' but it certainly is unique...especially if you have the tolerance for long experimental films.
