Notfilm

THE most boring time I have ever spent doing anything including sleeping. I would rather whack myself in the head with a hammer instead of watching one minute of this boring garbage.

The only thing that's clear from this film is that the narrator loves to hear himself talk. Another reviewer calls this film pretentious. That's being kind. The title card calling his film "A Kino-Essay" is just the beginning of this self indulgent jerk fest. "Blaahh blahh I'm so smart I'll do all the talking because I'm a horrible filmmaker and my kino-essay is a mess". God I'm wasting my life watching and writing about this. WTF am I doing? If you watch this, bring a pillow and a bag of heroin so you kill the pain and nod off.

I give this film 10 stars for efforts to create (from found audio & video) a glimpse into two important individuals in american culture. I subtract 5 stars for the final product that drags us through such a vapid documentary. This film might be an example of what people in several decades would experience if attempting to interpret the thoughts and meanings of a singular tweet of a current notable luminary of 2015. Probably has tremendous importance to someone, somewhere, at some time but it is lost on the masses.

Ross Lipman's documentary offers itself as a 'kino-essay' on FILM, the fabulous collaboration between Samuel Beckett as writer and Buster Keaton as performer. Lipman noted the absurdity of producing a two-hour movie about a 20-minute movie, the ridiculous idea of a piece of art about art and not life. Yet, despite the storied nature of the collaborators and the people interviewed and caught on film for this film, the ultimate point of this work seems to be a contemplation of Beckett's work and what he was trying to accomplish. In Lipman's view -- or at least my interpretation of what his interpretation is -- is that Beckett's works are contemplations of the futility of life and and the nothingness that circles its little 0.

As such, it's a cogent and penetrating analysis of the creative process that Beckett went through, a partial listing of his chosen symbols offers a fulsome work about a major artist. Whether you enjoy his work -- in any sense of the word -- or, like me at a Magritte exhibit exhibit with a friend, think it's boring to see the contents of your own mind on the walls of the Museum of Modern Art or its screening rooms -- is up to you.

The Plot. NOTFILM is a feature-length experimental essay on FILM -- its author Samuel Beckett, its star Buster Keaton, its production and its philosophical implications -- utilizing additional outtakes, never before heard audio recordings of the production meetings, and other rare archival elements.

Wow what a pretentious load of garbage. Jerky Lipman narrative about nothing. That goes on and on with no direction for over 2 hours. This is a 20 minute movie expanded into a sleep fest.

Interviews with 900 year old clowns who remember nothing. This movie is a waste of video.