Ken Jacobs: From Orchard Street to the Museum of Modern Art

Ken Jacobs rarely (but occasionally) features linear narratives in his films. This is one of the exceptions. Technically, it is Fred Riedel’s documentary, but it is all about Jacobs. The experimental filmmaker takes stock of his life and career in Riedel’s Ken Jacobs: From Orchard Street to the Museum of Modern Art, which screens this weekend at Anthology Film Archive.

Jacobs’ first film, Orchard Street, captured the comings and goings along the Lower Eastside commercial strip. Last year, MoMA acquired his prolific film collection. In between, he created 200-some films, including many non-narrative, abstract short films.

Jacobs has long been one of the best-known avant-garde filmmakers. Quite logically, he drops the names of experimental colleagues like Jack Smith, Stan Brakhage, and Jonas Mekas (who was particularly supportive at critical junctures of his life). Throughout most of the film, his wife Flo is by his side, filling in gaps in his memory. Their son Azazel is also seen helping his father render his latest project.

In many respects, Riedel takes a conventional approach, even though the generous sample of images from Jacobs’ films are anything but. It is rather sweet to observe the Jacobs’ comfortable chemistry together. However, Riedel’s doc is unlikely to win any converts for its subject. Indeed, From Orchard is conspicuously missing a sort of aesthetic statement from Jacobs, or any in-depth explanation of what excites him in cinema. For those unfamiliar with experimental filmmaking in general, it would have helped them relate better to the film clips Riedel shows.

Nevertheless, it is interesting to see a filmmaker like Jacobs get a documentary profile. Wisely, Riedel de-emphasizes politics and ideology, focusing on the personal and the cinematic. However, some of Jacobs’ film titles, like The Sky Socialist, are certainly suggestive. Yet, Jacobs’ entire body of work largely repudiates socialism in theory and practice. Yes, his films are defiantly uncommercial. They also lack explicit educational or motivational content. Imagine convincing a risk-averse bureaucrat to allocate state resources to such personal and idiosyncratic projects. That is not likely to happen, but in a market economy, Jacobs is free to pursue his visions as he sees fit. Capitalism is truly a human right.

In terms of tone and pacing, Riedel’s film somewhat quiet and a tad slow, even with the flashing strobes from Jacobs’ film clips. However, it conveys good sense of the filmmaker and his films. Recommended for patrons of experimental cinema, Ken Jacobs: From Orchard Street to the Museum of Modern Art screens this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (3/1-3/3) at Anthology Film Archives.