Being asked to research this obscure, albeit famous film was a difficult task for me. Do I think it is art? Yes, I do. Why? Because in it I see concisely triggered movements, created with throw-away items and I see that movement and use of essentially trash as art. Peter Fischli and David Weiss painstakingly set up the Rube Goldberg device and then just as painstakingly filmed it with good cameras. The result was a simple, yet powerful short film that mesmerized its audience. The art and humor created by these to men have led other artists to expand their horizons of thought to include the unheard of and the unthought of. Garbage as abstract, manhole covers as terrain, and umbrellas as boats. It’s all art.
My First Movie
The first movie I saw as a teenager, where I paid my own way was Flashdance with Jennifer Beals. She captured the audience with her determination and wit. (I was really upset when I found out that a double had done most of the dancing for her.) The idea of a welder who danced appealed to me on so many levels that I just had to go see the movie. I was enthralled through the whole thing. I bought the soundtrack with my next paycheck and boogied to it every chance I got. Later in life I actually studied ballet for four years; Flashdance was embedded in my brain, apparently.