"Carrots & Peas" is an American 5-minute short film from almost 50 years ago written and directed by Hollis Frampton. We see carrots and peas during the entire film. Nothing happens. This is a sight that you get by looking into and filming a glass with these vegetable. There is no creative impact in here whatsoever. Not a silent film as we hear a voice randomly rambling on during the entire film. This adds annoyance to boredom. The result is something that could hardly be worse for a five-minute movie. It would have been tolerable for a 5-second film from 1894 I guess. But this film here is another great example of how horribly overrated Frampton was. Don't watch.
2 Reviews
Image and Sound Disconnected
Tornado_Sam20 July 2019
Warning: Spoilers
In "Carrots and Peas", experimental filmmaker Hollis Frampton utilizes two of the most commonly used themes during his career: color contrasts and the disconnection between sound and image. The latter was one which had been done previously in "Surface Tension"; the former was exploited in "Lemon" of the same year. Both concepts are here brought together in one five-minute film, in which Frampton does not demonstrate them one at a time, but both at the same time. The result, as the other reviewer has said, is an annoying and dull experience to many, but as other commenters have already pointed out is intended to be so in the tiresome drone of the lecturing narrator.
The film begins with several examples of stop-motion animation, as carrots and peas are contrasted against a black background whilst they shift. A variety of color filters are then applied to the titular shot, one which eventually gives away to a single image of both vegetables mixed together in a second interesting contrast. The lecturer speaks during the entire movie, and as his words are played backwards to the audience, what he is saying is intentionally incomprehensible, annoying and boring. As evidenced by other efforts (such as Michael Snow's "Wavelength"), the point of some avant-garde cinema was not to be interesting but downright irritating and possibly painful; this film is a more tame example of such a work. (If one were to play the movie backwards they could understand the lecture, but to do so would be against the intent of the filmmaker and possibly break the movie of its original impact). In no way should this short be criticized for its annoying tedium, but actually praised for it--after all, to put the viewer in a state of discomfort was undoubtedly part of Frampton's intentions in his addition of the narrator.
The way the opening randomly animates the titular veggies shows more experimentation on Frampton's part, as he appears to have run out of ideas for what else to do with the image. Had this experimentation continued, one might even consider this movie an abstraction in how the carrots and peas are jumbled up by their own movement. Either way, it is a very interesting and effective example of these two concepts, done in such a way that both are executed to perfection.
The film begins with several examples of stop-motion animation, as carrots and peas are contrasted against a black background whilst they shift. A variety of color filters are then applied to the titular shot, one which eventually gives away to a single image of both vegetables mixed together in a second interesting contrast. The lecturer speaks during the entire movie, and as his words are played backwards to the audience, what he is saying is intentionally incomprehensible, annoying and boring. As evidenced by other efforts (such as Michael Snow's "Wavelength"), the point of some avant-garde cinema was not to be interesting but downright irritating and possibly painful; this film is a more tame example of such a work. (If one were to play the movie backwards they could understand the lecture, but to do so would be against the intent of the filmmaker and possibly break the movie of its original impact). In no way should this short be criticized for its annoying tedium, but actually praised for it--after all, to put the viewer in a state of discomfort was undoubtedly part of Frampton's intentions in his addition of the narrator.
The way the opening randomly animates the titular veggies shows more experimentation on Frampton's part, as he appears to have run out of ideas for what else to do with the image. Had this experimentation continued, one might even consider this movie an abstraction in how the carrots and peas are jumbled up by their own movement. Either way, it is a very interesting and effective example of these two concepts, done in such a way that both are executed to perfection.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
