Step across the border

Step across the border is a 1990 film Nicolas Hombert & Werner Prenzel in B/W, the subtitle is ' a 90 minute celluloid improvisation'. Now the film is mainly a portrait in music of Fred Frith , guitarist and cofounder of Henry Cow and friends and musicians related to him (Tim Hodgkinson,Arto Lindsey, John Zorn, Joey Baron,Jonas Mekas and others) As it is said in the subtitle the film tries(succesfully) to apply the principe of improvisation to filmmaking. It is not easy to get into the film, (as into the FF music), but once you on it you will be highly rewarded. The film is not easy to describe as there is no narrative structure, the team followed FF for over a year and filmed concerts, interviews and snippets of everyday life on the streets of Tokyo, New York, Zürich and Saint Remy. In one of my favourite scenes you see FF doing some shopping in a japanese  store , he buys different sort of food and kitchen utensils and once back home he tries them(food and utensils !!!) out on a special e-guitar that is integrated in a flat box. He pours cereals over the strings and  caresses the strings with the kitchen utensils producing some strange sounds, a real soundscape explorer.It is a very poetic film about life and music!

BaldFriede wrote: I don't know that movie, but since we are talking movies: There is a movie about the Roman Bunka Band (an offspring of Embryo, who appear in one scene of the move too, where they meet the Roman Bunka Band and immediately start a session). The movie is only so-so, but the music - fantastic! When I saw the movie at age 12 ( I was already into prog then) I immediately went and bought the first album of the Roman Bunka Band, which terribly disappointed me on first listening (it is now one of my favorite albums. Excellent music, but the music in the movie was all played live, and there is only one live track ("Heat") on this album. They were so much better live). Nevertheless, buy the album! And try to see the movie "Dein Kopf ist ein schlafendes Auto" by Werner Penzel.

 "Dein Kopf ist ein schlafendes Auto" great title, if it's out on DVD I try it .. and the ROMAN Bunka Band.Try to find "Step across the Border" on DVD (maybe '2001' will have it ) you will love that one!

Edited by Alucard