Killer of Sheep 4K 1978

This film made history because of inexplicable problems that arose with its release on DVD: the owners of the music tracks could not agree with the creators on the price of their use in the image design of the film's visuals. However, this did not prevent Charles Barnett's film from remaining in history - having passed through the festival screens, taking a place in various kinds of tops, shuffling samples and specimens of high artistic style.

It's hard to see clear lines in the blurred canvas. And whether there is a coherent story here is a big question. In the chronicle shots often glimpses the family of a black laborer Stan. His wife, his children. Concerns about life, need with awkward attempts to get out on the steep shore of tranquility warmed by prosperity.

Behind the walls - the eternal life of the colored ghetto with muted squabbles and backstage dealings, with trading and stealing, with the hustle and bustle of the yard scum, but without the gangster scale and explosive wave of violence.

Gliding on the surface, the director simulates situations, putting the actors in typical mise-en-scene, which turn out to be an artistic chronicle of an ordinary slaughterhouse worker.

A masterful mastery of light, shadow, and composition is evident in the precise succession of perfectly staged black-and-white shots. Barnet deliberately sat on all the chairs, determined to do everything with his own hands, from the script to the filming. No, he didn't find the golden ratio. He found the optimal combination of image and sound, in which, close to the old silent movies, a little wordy video sequence finds its soul in the sounds of jazz and blues, the music of the blacks, who replaced the old tap-dancer.

Filmed in an illustrative manner, the movie does not require the actors to present their images in a detailed manner, relegating them to the role of models in the hands of the experimenting director.

The film is frankly dissonant with the usual eye-catching and heartwarming stories, it is unbearable to watch without finding the plot knots and loud events inside. Not everyone will have the strength to focus on the visual delights of the resourceful director, but those who “love beautiful” will find their movie in it.