By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume Two (The Criterion Collection)

Working outside the mainstream, Stan Brakhage made nearly four hundred films. Challenging all taboos in his exploration of birth, sex, death, and the search for God, Brakhage turned his camera on explicit lovemaking, childbirth, even autopsy. Many of his most famous works pursue the nature of vision itself and transcend the act of filming. Some, including the legendary Mothlight, were made without using a camera at all. Instead, Brakhage pioneered the art of making images directly on filmdrawing, painting, and scratching it by hand. His visionary style has influenced everything from cartoons and television commercials to MTV music videos and the work of such mainstream moviemakers as Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, and Oliver Stone. With these two volumes, we present the definitive Brakhage collectionfifty-six of his works in high-definition digital transfers, spanning his almost fifty-year career. (Films date from 1954-2003)