Notes on "Benjamin Smoke"

A sense of mystery starts this beautifully documented film. Snatches of a person in darkness, close-ups of different body parts in grainy black and white. This film sets up a good sense of place and texture.
-Monologues-slowly inform the viewer of the story, extreme full frame close ups as Benjamin talks.
-I like the use of sound in darkness making you guess what is going to happen, the next shot is slowly coming in and out of a simple banjo rhythm, setting the stage for this performers work.
-The technical skill and choices in this film are what drew me in the most. I wanted to take up art photography again, I learned about different visual tactics for using super8, I learned to see the art of cinematography.
-Jem Cohen introduced people by doing mug shots in Super 8 with them talking over the still, quiet, shots.
-The choice of having him work fast forward cooking in the kitchen as b-roll was an accurate representation of his speed addiction. I liked the shot of his collections around the house; a fast shot with slow music makes a nice contrast and identifies his personality.
-The whole film was very intimate, him in his bed, walking around, lying down, you were really getting to know this person in there full humanity.
-The “stuff” of the cabbage town community as signifiers of what this town is, its identity shared through the objects that end up there.
-A beautiful color night shot showing the evening urban landscape, similar to a long exposure color photograph.
-The sounds of the South, buzzing night signs glowing, loud crickets, good mood sound
-Close up of Ben staring into camera with city night light behind him, I like all the simple face on shots used to share this person with you.
-“What is beautiful and difficult?”
-Jumpy close-ups while telling his life story in the middle of the documentary instead of the beginning testimonial style in black and white, I would like to use this style in TQ.
-Sound collage of random conversation, showing the people sitting together smoking weed, with the audio of the conversation dubbed over the top, this creates a nice mood and is a dynamic way of using sound.
-After his death, audio with photos, sad, good use of photos as a document, flashes of the whole movie dispersed in between holga like photos of him.
-I liked how they did not end the film with his death; they even showed live footage of him afterward.
- I liked reading the DVD pamphlet afterward and it sharing how the filmmakers followed Benjamin for years and documented with whatever they were able to afford at the time. This left the film with a diversity of mediums covered that really added to the character sketch of this person Benjamin. I really liked this documentary and was thoroughly inspired to shoot as artistically as Jem Cohen.