Emak-Bakia (1927)

A long series of unrelated images, revolving, often distorted: lights, flowers, nails. A lightboard appears from time to time carrying the news of the day. Then, an eye. A woman in a car ... See full summary »

Director:

Man Ray

Writer:

Man Ray

Stars:

Kiki of Montparnasse, Jacques Rigaut

Cast

Credited cast:
Kiki of Montparnasse	...	Girl with painted eyes
Jacques Rigaut

Storyline

A long series of unrelated images, revolving, often distorted: lights, flowers, nails. A lightboard appears from time to time carrying the news of the day. Then, an eye. A woman in a car drives along country roads. Farm animals. She descends from the car, again and again. Images: dancing legs, seashore, swimming fish, geometric shapes, cut glass. A man removes his starched collar. It rotates. A girl has garishly painted eyes. No, she's only fooling. Those were her eyelids.

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Plot Keywords:

surrealism | avant garde | part animation | dada

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Genres:

Short

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Details

Country:

France

Release Date:

6 March 1927 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

18 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the movie - a very short soundless abstract piece - was first exhibited, a man in the audience stood up and complained it was giving him a headache. Another man told him to shut up, and they both started to fight. They left the theater fighting and the police was called in to stop the fight.

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Connections

Features Return to Reason (1923)

User Reviews

Regardez les tootsies!

If anybody out there knows what the title 'Emak-Bakia' means, please let me know.

I've always found the dilettante Man Ray and his artistic efforts to be deeply pretentious, and I've never understood why his work attracts so much attention. Apart from his Rayographs (which he invented by accident, and which are merely direct-contact photo prints), his one real contribution to culture seems to be that he was the first photographer to depict female nudity in a manner that was accepted as art rather than as porn. But surely this had to happen eventually, and there's no real reason why Ray deserves the credit. The critical reaction to Man Ray reminds me of the story about the Emperor's New Clothes.

There is in 'Emak-Bakia' one interesting shot of several women alighting from a 1920s motorcar: the camera aims at the pavement and the running board, so that we see only their feet in silk stockings and shoes. Man Ray's entire career shows a constant obsession with the nude female form: this one shot seems to imply that he may have had a fetish for women's feet or shoes or both.

We also see a brief montage of Rayographs, depicting either dressmaker's pins or nails (it's hard to tell), edited in a manner that almost makes them look animated.

I remember a shot of a headless puppet with a balloon in its neck, and a picture of Josephine Baker's face is drawn on the balloon. Or am I thinking of some other Man Ray movie instead? Who cares! All of his work is equally meaningless.

The emperor is naked, folks, and this movie just barely rates one point out of 10. Au suivant!