Vertov, Snow, Farocki

Tomas' ideas are fascinating . . . [and his book] presents these ideas in a measured way, precisely and deliberately considering his key examples. The volume is a must for anyone interested in technology or cinema, or for the greater implications of a society who carries in their pocket the capacity to record and represent the world around them. -- Daniel Binns, University of West Sydney, Australia * Cinema Journal *
Tomas, an artist and anthropologist at the Université du Québec, Montréal, continues the work he undertook in Beyond the Image Machine: A History of Visual Technologies, exhorting readers to view visual technologies differently. In this volume, Tomas attempts to shift attention from aesthetic products to ritual practices. Specifically, he argues for understanding the mechanical process of filming as a rite of passage whereby the image is taken, processed, and reincorporated into the socio-symbolic order. This ritual structure becomes the basis for a comparative anthropological study of Dziga Vertov’s The Man with a Movie Camera, Michael Snow’s La Région Centrale and De La, and Harun Farocki’s trilogy Eye/Machine and Counter-Music. The experimental, posthuman processes involved in shooting these unique films is of primary interest, leading to detailed discussions of the filmmaker’s intentions and abstract theorization of their specific execution. For this reason, Tomas’s esoteric, though intriguing, revisioning of film’s history and future is likely of most use to experts. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. -- T. J. Welsh, Loyola University New Orleans, USA * CHOICE *