F.W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Story of Two Humans is one of those films I've waited to see so I could experience it in a cinema atmosphere. I finally had that chance last night at the Paramount Theater in Austin.
I must admit that I was utterly unprepared for how 'Modern' a film Sunrise actually is. I was overcome by, what Deleuze calls, the dynamic sublime of Murnau's movement-image. Conceived in Germany and not wholly bound by the 'action' montage of D.W. Griffith, the members of the 1st Academy awards probably didn't know what to do with Sunrise. Although they recognized it's acting (Janet Gaynor) and cinematography (Charles Rosher and Karl Struss) they didn't award it with 'best picture'. That distinction went to the WW1 action epic Wings. Instead, the academy awarded Sunrise with an award recognizing it as a 'unique' and 'artistic' production thus setting a precident for the next 8 decades.
It is quite telling after all that Sunrise is 'A SONG of Two Humans' rather than a 'Story' of two humans. Murnau's fluid camera technique, evocative cinematography, and insitance on human forms all tell the 'story' more than title cards, which are few and far in between. Time is always pulsing through the film trying to bind past and present and reveal itself subjectively. As Henri Bergson notes, movement in time is like the concatination of notes in a melody, when you break down the chain into series of successive notes you no longer have the tune.
Murnau's deep focus, a camera that is always trying to push through or have action come towards it, his dream sequences and flashbacks all point towards techniques Welles and Ozu will perfect in the 30's and 40's and the Italian Neo-Realists and successive New Waves will apply towards political and philosophical ends after WW2.
Saddly, Sunrise was't a 'box-office success' and Murnau lost directorial autonomy on his final three films. Apparently the American audience and studios wanted his work to look and feel more like Wings. My God, what this industry does to its visionaries and geniuses ...
Murnau died in a car crash in 1931 (at the age of 42), but the Goodness, Beauty and Truth of his Sunrise lives on ...
a true masterpiece.
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