Thanks to J. Shamus & Brian Goldberg.  And no, Bill Kennedy, that's
not the same Decodings.  This one is composed entirely of "appropriated" imagery
from instructional & documentary footage, music by Shostakovich, and recitation
by William Graves (hope I got his name right).  A spiritual as well as technical
ancestor would seem to be Conner, the corresponding work being 'A Movie'. The
imagery in Dcodings is even more contrapuntal to the music and other filmic
elements than in A Movie, and operate at a far higher level of development of
that "strategy".  As innovative as the editing is, however, I find the greater
accomplishment to be the blending of what might be called feeling-tones - I mean
the peculiar qualities of both the Shostakovich and Graves' remarkable speaking
voice.  This is a sweeping work, intense and beautiful.
        Speaking of intense and beautiful, I'm curious as to what if any changes
in critical interpretation
of Stan Brakhage's work has occurred since PA Sitney's Visionary Film.  What's
the current assessment of his work in film academia?
 
Rh.Hurst [log in to unmask]