Tony Pipolo
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197551165
- eISBN:
- 9780197551202
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197551165.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Gregory Markopoulos was one of the key figures of American avant-garde cinema from the 1940s through the 1980s. This chapter focuses on The Mysteries, perhaps his most enigmatic film, made during ...
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Gregory Markopoulos was one of the key figures of American avant-garde cinema from the 1940s through the 1980s. This chapter focuses on The Mysteries, perhaps his most enigmatic film, made during what might be termed a mid-life crisis when mortality loomed and he was consumed with unanswered questions about art, life, and time. Through an intense examination of the film’s shots, often analyzed frame by frame, the author shows that a fictive scheme rules the film, and describes how its homosexual protagonist and his obsession with death inhibits his pursuit of a romantic relationship. The author argues, finally, that the film can be read convincingly as autobiographical.Less
Gregory Markopoulos was one of the key figures of American avant-garde cinema from the 1940s through the 1980s. This chapter focuses on The Mysteries, perhaps his most enigmatic film, made during what might be termed a mid-life crisis when mortality loomed and he was consumed with unanswered questions about art, life, and time. Through an intense examination of the film’s shots, often analyzed frame by frame, the author shows that a fictive scheme rules the film, and describes how its homosexual protagonist and his obsession with death inhibits his pursuit of a romantic relationship. The author argues, finally, that the film can be read convincingly as autobiographical.
