Don't Blink - Robert Frank
Sep 15 - Sep 18, 2016
(Laura Israel, US, 2016, DCP, 82 min)
Laura Israel’s engrossing look into the life and times of legendary photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank unravels the man behind the camera. From his classic 1958 photo-essay, The Americans, to films Pull My Daisy and the Rolling Stones no-holds-barred eye-opener, Cocksucker Blues, Israel tracks Frank’s life as an artist always searching and pushing the boundaries of the medium, embracing experimentation in traditional narrative forms. A living embodiment of his style even at 91 years old, Don’t Blink is an unapologetic celebration of artistic creation and with it, the triumphs and tragedies of a life fully lived.
“Don’t Blink shows how much more there is to Frank’s oeuvre (the artist is still going strong at 90). Yet the film gives equal attention to the man and how his sensibility is expressed in countless aspects of his life. Having edited films for him since the early ‘90s, Israel is a friend and collaborator, but not an acolyte. Her knowledge of Frank allows her to create an informed, intimate film that’s funny, warm and multi-faceted, never reverential.” -- Godfrey Cheshire, rogerebert.com