Underplayed Gems

The Flicker (1965)

The Flicker poster
Directed by
Tony Conrad
Genre
experimental film
Country
United States
Runtime
30 min
Rating
5.4 of 10 from 25 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

The film consists almost entirely of alternating solid black and white frames. The changing pace of this flicker creates strong strobe effects. It is a stripped-down visual experience designed to affect the viewer directly.

hypnoticdisorientingintenseminimalistrepetitivephysically demandingabstractsilent

What happens

The Flicker is a 1966 American experimental film by Tony Conrad. Aside from its opening credits, the film uses only solid black or white frames. It changes the rate at which it switches between black and white frames to produce stroboscopic effects. Conrad spent several months designing the film before shooting it in a matter of days. He produced and distributed The Flicker with the help of Jonas Mekas. The film is now recognized as a key work of structural filmmaking. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.