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JAMES
BENNING : CIRCLING THE IMAGE
7/10
Germany
2003 : Reinhard WULF : 50 mins (TV version) / 84 mins (theatrical version)
 Fascinating
documentary which follows James
Benning as he travels from his California base to Utah, where he shoots
one shot for his feature 13 Lakes at the Salton Sea. Though inevitably
much less innovative and striking than Benning’s own remarkable films,
Circling the Image is nevertheless an absorbing and invaluable
introduction to an film-maker who, though almost unanimously revered
by those who know his work, has a ludicrously low profile among even the
more informed sections of the cinemagoing public.
This underexposure
is partly due to the strict control Benning exerts over his output – though
they have been shown on German TV (for which this documentary was
originally made), the films have never been available on VHS or DVD. Benning
also refuses to play the publicity game – the figure that emerges here
is craggily engaging, but filled with monastic rigour and quiet devotion
to his craft. It’s a rare privilege to see this artist – arguably America’s
most important living film-maker - at work at such close quarters, as
he strives to see “how subtle an image I can make.”
The resulting
Salton Sea shot is a potent illustration of Benning’s genius, which is
also evident in the brief extracts from earlier works such as Deseret,
Los and The United States
of America (which amusingly prefigures Kiarostami’s Ten)
Such are the strengths of Circling the Image it’s easy to forgive
Wulf’s numerous very un-Benning-like ‘embellishments’ (songs on the soundtrack!)
and the handful of ‘staged’ moments, including the great man nodding off
in a (Twentynine Palms-ish)
motel room while the TV plays Erin
Brockovich.
4th
January, 2004
(TV version seen on VHS, Sunderland, 3rd – 4th January)
For an interview
with James Benning click here
by Neil
Young
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