Passage Through: A Ritual

PASSAGE THROUGH: A RITUAL is without a doubt one of, if not THE, most unique viewing experiences I've ever had in my life. Stan Brakhage's collaboration with composer Philip Corner is equal parts empty and satiating at the same time, and surely one of the most experimental films of Brakhage's entire career.

As the story goes, Corner was inspired to write a musical piece after seeing Brakhage's THE RIDDLE OF LUMEN (1974). Having heard the composition at some point afterwards, Brakhage was then inspired to collaborate on or create a film to accompany Corner's work. The result was PASSAGE THROUGH: A RITUAL (1990). Standing out first for it's use of sound (the majority of Stan Brakhage's films are silent), and then it's choice of imagery and the subsequent relation between the given image and sound, the filmmaker created one of the most perplexing and brave works of artistic cinema I've ever encountered. Here's why...

The soundtrack is full and extends for the entire 50 minutes the film unfolds on the screen, cascading out of itself with contrasts of the eerie and ethereal, the playful and bombastic, and with a truly engaging aural intimacy. But where the images are concerned we are given the sparsest glimpses of subject matter and instead are confronted by the pure void of a black screen for almost the entirety of the piece; of the 50 minute running time probably only 3-4 minutes in total contain actual visuals! The results are subject to personal viewer response, but are surely mixed at best. I found myself initially longing for the brief images, trying to anticipate when they might appear or if there was any relation with the flow of the soundtrack, but soon I was able to "let go" somewhat and sit in the darkness listening to a beautiful musical score, while snippets of visuals popped out of the lightless theatre. As a result, each seconds-long segment of imagery was like discovering a gem; rich, colourful, powerful and rewarding.

Over-all, I'm not sure PASSAGE THROUGH: A RITUAL really "works" as a moving visual experience, and it is not one I can readily recommend to everyone. For those seeking the visual experience it can be frustrating and/or empty to sit through blackened projection for sometimes even 10 minutes at a time; add to that Brakhage's usual reputation for arresting imagery, pacing and movement and one might feel ripped-off. Then there is factor of what appears to be randomness with which the images come through in relation to the sound elements; at any given moment the singularity of the musical composition might, and will be, interrupted by a flash of something that relates to a completely different set of sensory perceptors: the eyes, which for the most part seem so far removed from the equation with this particular offering. I can't pretend to know what affect Brakhage may have been aiming for, but I can say it was one of both unsettling and stirring viewing for me personally. A nice surprise but one I don't think I would re-experience again now that I've entertained it once. Regardless, I doubt many will ever "see" anything like it either before of after such is the complete singularity of the piece given the medium in use.

6/10. Not for everyone with an experimental film appreciation, but a truly experimental film.