9/64: O Tannenbaum (1964)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Kurt Kren

Genre:

Short

Plot:

In O Christmas Tree Kren offers a more visually descriptive development of a Muehl action. The images...

Plot Keywords:

Number In Title

Cast

Otto Mühl

Also Known As:

9/64: O Christmas Tree

Runtime:

3 min

Country:

Austria

Language:

None

Color:

Color

Trivia:

Because of its explicit nature director Kurt Kren had great difficulty finding labs willing to develop this film.

Another bizarre short from Kurt Kren.

"9/64:O Tannenbaum" is another unforgettable short made by Viennese Aktionists.They made short movies about people having sex with swans and then chopping their heads off.They did films with people pissing on each other,and eating excrement and vomiting,people getting cut with razors etc.I think those movies still have some impact and get overlooked by the film historians.Anyway,"9/64:O Tannenbaum" is not as scatological as some other works by Kren,but there is plenty of full-frontal nudity and weirdness on display.The filmmaker documents a ritual by members of Vienna's renegade Direct Art,Material Action group,with whom he had become associated.This explicit film counter-poses disturbingly intense imagery—blood,paint,eggs,feathers,and candle wax smeared all over naked,writhing men and women—with the comic element of a pathetically ragged Christmas tree on top of the writhers.In one recurring shot,a penis and a woman's breast pop up through cut-out holes in an opened suitcase;in another,a woman attempts a faltering blow job on a man as both are sprayed head-to-toe with red paint.Unfortunately Kren's work is not available on any format,so good luck finding a copy of this one.7 out of 10.