Cinepoem: Rimbaud's "The Stolen Heart"

updated 2/23 - the video is up!

My third Cinepoem is up a couple weeks late, but I am now almost caught up with the video schedule I set months ago. Covering one of my favorite poets, Arthur Rimbaud, this video is one of the more formally complex and abstract that I've created so far. It uses (non-graphic) clips from Salo and Blue is the Warmest Color (as well as some stylized bloodshed from Patriotism - between that and Rimbaud's language, this probably isn't something you want to play at work). While it may seem slightly perverse to pair one of Rimbaud's hardest-hitting verses with clips from NC-17 films that don't feature extreme violence or sexuality I was more interested in suggesting the emotional aftereffect/byproduct of both desire and trauma. For the score, which might be one of my favorite aspects of this montage, I slowed down and combined tracks by Kendrick Lamarr and The Velvet Underground. And the photo zoomed in on for most of the video, providing one of its central disciplines, is of course Rimbaud himself.

Check out my previous Cinepoems each of which segues directly into the next: "Idylls of the King" and "After Great Pain". I created a new playlist to play all three in a row, and new ones will be added as they are uploaded in coming months.

Oh, and an embarrassing correction for something I should have double-checked in the credits: the translator is Wallace Fowlie, not Walter. Argh. Jim Morrison is spinning in his grave.

Vimeo version:

original text:

Early in January I finally caught up with my video backlog, but now I've fallen behind again. I still haven't posted the video essay for two weeks ago, Side by Side: The Asphalt Jungle/The Killing, and now I am also overdue for my latest Cinepoem video. As usual, I am using this post as a placeholder and will update it as soon as the Cinepoem video is ready so keep it bookmarked if you're curious (or just keep track of my YouTube/Vimeo channels). It will use a Rimbaud poem as its basis, probably Le Coeur Vole (The Stolen Heart). Apologies for the delays. Pretty soon I should be in a position/inclination to not only catch up but get ahead with my videowork so that even during lulls and/or distractions I have a sufficient backlog to work with.