Neil Cadieux passes the captcha for this fascinating retrospective video essay by Rouzbeh Rashidi.
Rouzbeh Rashidi’s From the Human to the Inhuman is a feature-length video essay, assembled from eleven features made between 2009 and 2019. Self-described as a ‘passage back’ through his work, the film offers retrospective analysis and explanation of a decade’s worth of experimental filmmaking. The film collates clips of Rashidi’s works, which are paired with narration written by Rashidi and delivered by a disembodied narrator. In the film's opening, he states: “I make films because I do not understand what an image is. I’ve looked at images my whole life, and this looking has never resulted in knowledge”. This profound and honest statement acts as an appropriate introduction to the rationale behind this project.
At the time of directing these works, Rashidi found little relation between the films. However, ten years later, he visualises films as part of a movement, one which “could never be planned, and could not have been declared.” He defines this movement as “one which began in the proximity of faves, and ends in regions where humans are no longer the measure.” For Rashidi, biographical and metaphorical reminiscence on filmic creation are focalised through this proximity-influenced understanding.
When discussing and disambiguating the first two films under analysis, Only Human and Bipedality, Rashidi provides insight into his unique filmmaking process. This process involves abandoning the practice of using ‘takes’ on set and relying solely on the first shot filmed. For Rashidi, using a second take is counter-intuitive, as it “already knows too much”. He appears to find an essential rawness within the first take, one which would be counter-intuitive if repeated. This approach, and its explanation, are quietly revolutionary. By pairing this explanation with context-appropriate clips from Only Human and Bipedality, he acutely distils the practices that produce his distinctive style.
Rashidi then turns to the third work, his 2011 feature, Closure of Catharsis. In this section, Rashidi explains how his works operate around specific conditions. The sole condition of this feature, then, is speech. In this work, a man on a bench speaks for one-hundred minutes, with no notes, script, or specified dialogue. For Rashidi, this encompasses a demand for cinema to return to a sincere and honest place. He goes on to specify that the man was not required to discuss anything specific, let alone utter a single word. What results on screen is, for Rashidi, a pure form of sincerity. This pureness doesn’t exist as one which does not cleanly deliver truth. Instead, sincerity is invoked through depicting the physical act of attempting. This description, and the accompanying clips from Catharsis, are equally moving and thought-provoking. Rashidi seemingly demands a mix of naturalism and non-compliance from his subjects. Through this palpable rawness, we can abide his thorough and well-conceived mission statements.
As the film progresses, Rashidi’s personalised theories on the moving image come fast and freely. The sole crux of the film’s structure comes from a chronological listing of his films. Topics ranging from science fiction to nationality are contained within this chronology and are dissected relentlessly. In a particularly moving segment, he reveals that he directed his Tehran-set Hades of Limbo completely remotely. He described the delay he experienced in directing from another country as a direct, filmic example of his exile. His description of this condition, and the accompanying visuals from Hades of Limbo, are wholly distressing and undeniably poignant.
During many segments, this video essay could be deemed a collage of dense, all-encompassing statements on experimental cinema. Most of the essay, however, feels like a series of well-thought-out lamentations on a fascinating filmography. Rashidi’s rigid adherence to chronology also allows for the piece to act as an effective A–Z introduction into his body of work. While many aspects of Rashidi’s artistic notations may baffle, his approach to explanation and motive is moving in its honesty and impressive in its scale. A storied career and a wealth of ideas and notations are contained within this ninety-minute retrospective.
Rouzbeh Rashidi: A Decade of Cinema is a special masterclass followed by an extended audience Q&A. Taking place Saturday, 22nd August at Light House Cinema. Get your tickets here.
