Les Blank: Independent filmmaker
Vincent Van Gogh once said, "The secret to life is to love many things." The documentaries of Les Blank pay homage to Van Gogh's admonition. Blank finds interest and joy in the esoteric, and through the power of filmmaking expands and explores what might be casually overlooked. His interests, meaning the direction in which he points his camera, have created, over the years, a panoply of different films. Narrow in focus perhaps, at least initially, each is beautifully photographed with a loose and engaging narrative style.
A perfect example of what catches Blank's eye is "Gap-Toothed Women," which will be screened at the Varsity Theatre along with "Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers." Who hasn't, in passing, noticed women among whose front teeth are gapped? And who would've thought to make a film about such women? And how many folks out there would happily pay good money to watch? Or a film that trumpets the wondrous properties and curative aspects of garlic? No matter. Like all of Blank's films, these are small celebrations of life. Such as it is. There is beauty and interest and even a certain allure to be found in women who, when they smile, reveal what is a provocative, whimsical, let's say enchanting gap. Who would've thought? But recall Sandra Day O'Connor, Lauren Hutton and Cleopatra, and you get the idea. And, as Blank shows in "Garlic," there is a bevy of pilgrims out there who worship at the shrine of the odorous rose, fully prepared to wear it, crush it, spread it liberally on meats, drop it into huge pots of soup, make hats resembling it, and happy to sing and laugh and cook while so engaged.
Ideally, you should have a room filled with gapped-toothed women, wearing strands of garlic, and watching "The Blues Accordin' to Lightin' Hopkins," another nicely rendered film by Blank. Hopkins is a blues singer extrodinaire, and listening to the man play the guitar while singing and explaining and humming the blues is a thing wondrous to behold. Mix in Texas barbecue, a black rodeo, and a visit to Hopkins' boyhood town of Centerville, Texas, and you have some rare footage which celebrates one man's life and commitment to music.
Blank will screen a work-in-progress, "The Tea Film," at the Historic Ashland Armory along with two shorts. "Tea Film," like Blank's other films, takes a narrow subject, a mere wedge, really, and expands and extrapolates. The film follows world-renowned American tea importer David Lee Hoffman to the most remote regions of China in search of the world's finest teas. Clearly this is high risk high gain filmmaking, because the nudging question that follows the film is: who is the audience? Of course, in the hands of Blank, Hoffman's travels and expertise are fascinating and wonderfully photographed. But it's still tea. And a cup of tea by any other name is still just a cup of tea. Actually, not. As Blank shows, there is artistry and history and exquisite taste to be found in what Americans might regard as simply a nice hot brew consumed in great quantities by others.
Les Blank will receive the Artistic Achievement Award at the AIFF Awards Celebration, April 15. The best of the 2007 festival and the best of the Rogue Valley's food and drink will be featured. The ceremony will be hosted by Jefferson Public Radio's Jeff Golden. Juried and audience awards will be presented with clips of the top films in each category.
