Page 220
James Benning
In the mid seventies James Benning was making films that combine elements of "structural" cinemalong single-shot takes; highly formalized compositionswith elements of conventional narrative. A period of intense activity from 1974 to 1976 saw the completion of three collaborations with Bette Gordon
Michigan Avenue
(1974),
I-94
(1975), and
The United States of America
(1975)as well as Benning's
8 1/2 × 11
(1974),
11 × 14
(1976), and
9-1-75
(1975). All six films introduce characters, or at least human situations, but handle them in unconventional ways.
Michigan Avenue
is a short, sensuous triptych: one woman walks on a busy city street; she and a second woman pose for a portrait; and the two women lie naked together on a bed. All three moments are manipulated on an optical printer; each is a meditation on the miraculous seam between stillness and motion that recalls Muybridge.
I-94
alternates individual frames of a naked woman (Gordon) walking away from the camera and a naked man (Benning) walking toward the camera, creating a thaumatrope-in-motion. On the soundtrack Gordon and Benning talk simultaneously: the volume of Gordon's comments about her frustration at not being taken seriously is progressively lowered, as the volume of Benning's comments about changes he's been going through is raised. For
The United States of America
Benning and Gordon mounted a camera in the back of a car, then traveled from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Pacific Ocean, periodically recording imagery and sound. The windshield becomes a movie screen within the movie.
8 1/2 × 11
and
11 × 14
seem to have been a major breakthrough for