One of cinema’s great colorists, early in his career Markopoulos achieved a palette worthy of Delacroix or Redon.—Kristin M. Jones, Artforum
Psyche, the first film of Markopoulos’s trilogy Du Sang, de la volupté et de la mort, demonstrates Markopoulos’s great talent for color, composition, and graceful camera movements. Made under conditions of incredible austerity, the trilogy is radical in its use of narrative form and sound/image disparity. Markopoulos called Lysis, the second film of the trilogy, “a study in stream-of-consciousness poetry of a lost, wandering, homosexual soul“ and felt that the film foreshadowed The Illiac Passion, which he made twenty years later. The program also includes The Dead Ones, the director’s only black-and-white film, dedicated to Jean Cocteau.
A Christmas Carol 1940, 5 mins, Silent, Color, 16mm
Psyche 1947–48. With Ann Wells, George Emmons. 25 mins, Color, 16mm, PFA Collection
Lysis 1947–48. With Markopoulos. 30 mins, Color, 16mm, PFA Collection
Charmides 1947-48, 15 mins, Color, 16mm, PFA Collection
Christmas USA 1949, 8 mins, Silent, Color, 16mm
The Dead Ones 1949. With Markopoulos, Elwood Decker. 28 mins, Silent, B&W, 35mm
Total running time: 111 mins
Featured in the series:
Seconds of Eternity: The Films of Gregory J. Markopoulos
Rarely seen and nearly forgotten, Markopoulos’s films were once compared to the works of Joyce, Proust, and Eisenstein.—Kristin M. Jones, Artforum
The films of Gregory J. Markopoulos, a leading figure of the American avant-garde and the world of art cinema, have been almost impossible to see during the past forty years. Markopoulos (1928–92) had very specific views on how his films should be exhibited; in 1967, when he moved from the United States to Europe, he made the decision to withdraw his films from distribution. From that point forward, Markopoulos concentrated his limited resources solely on the production of new work.
Along with Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol, and Jack Smith, Markopoulos was one of the most prominent figures of American independent cinema. Following in the tradition of directors like Jean Cocteau and Jean Vigo, Markopoulos was a poet filmmaker whose work falls intro three main categories: mythic themes, film portraits, and films of place. Often taking his inspiration from classic literary works, Markopoulos forged new terrain as a filmmaker exploring abstract narratives. His poetic approach relied heavily on the expressive, even mannerist use of color, composition, rhythm, and fractured temporal structures. He achieved a harmonious and delicate balance of plot, character, and theme. Sensual and elegant, Markopoulos’s films concern themselves with beauty and form, sometimes expressing homoerotic love in psychological and dramatic terms (Lysis; Twice a Man).
