Reviews (1)
The film pays tribute to Étienne-Jules Marey's chronophotography. However, "The Small Disassembled Film" not only examines the relationship between the decomposition of human and animal movement into scientifically observable categories but also extends the meaning of these analyzed images in different directions without deviating too much from the original inspiration. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is the establishing comparison of a series of skeletal movements, along with other allusions to death, evoking the connection between death and chronophotography, which must surely affect every contemporary viewer – this is not only because all those involved, as well as their era, have long been dead, but also because the principle by which they were immortalized is also dead (chronophotography was replaced by more perspective cinematography). Moreover, the scientific principle chosen by physiologist Marey and others was based on an absolutely dehumanizing positivist vision of science, which believed that living beings could be understood through their decomposition into mechanical motion. Worth mentioning is Gioli's game with image repetition - the author uses this device and an important external feature of chronophotography to play with the protagonists, completely changing the meaning of their movements. As a result of the analysis of Greco-Roman wrestling, two homosexuals emerge, not in spite of, but thanks to the process of chronophotography.
()