Don’t blink – Robert Frank

A Laura Israel film. In eng­lish with ger­man subtitles.

Robert Frank is reluc­tant to allow hims­elf to be wired up to a micro­pho­ne; one of the world’s most renow­ned pho­to­graph­ers does not want to pose in front of ano­ther person’s lens – and sim­ply lea­ves the frame. This sce­ne from an ear­ly inter­view alre­a­dy reve­als much about his per­so­na­li­ty and his under­stan­ding of art. Bent over his ear­ly pho­to­graphs, which cap­tu­re dai­ly life on the mar­gins of American socie­ty, he explains his approach. ‘It’s best’ he says, ‘if peo­p­le don’t noti­ce that you are pho­to­gra­phing them.’ His por­traits are snapshots that cap­tu­re the moment – in the truest sen­se of the term – whe­ther they depict the lives of London ban­kers, Welsh miners or rock stars like the Stones. Robert Frank opens up in front of the came­ra of his long-stan­ding col­la­bo­ra­tor and edi­tor Laura Israel and looks back, self-con­fi­dent­ly but also self-depre­ca­tingly, at his life and work. The film shows us an artist in action; the wit­ness of an era who remem­bers the years with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg – with whom he made films in the caden­ces of the Beat gene­ra­ti­on. Robert Frank: always a maverick and anar­chist – in any situa­ti­on that life throws at him. (Berlinaletext)

USA/Frankreich 2015, 82 Min., engl. OmU
Regie: Laura Israel
Kamera: Lisa Rinzler, Ed Lachman
Schnitt: Alex Bingham