Ken Jacobs Collection, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Ken Jacobs Collection, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

An engaging assortment of films from experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs.

Ken Jacobs: Collection – Vol. 1 offers an impressive slate of short films from the experimental filmmaker. The collection includes the following shorts: Orchard Street (1955, 27 min.), The Whirled (1961, 19 min.), Little Stabs at Happiness (1963, 15 min.), Blonde Cobra (1963, 34 min.), Window (1964, 12 min.), The Sky Socialist: Environs and Outtakes (1964-1966/2019, 47 min.), The Georgetown Loop (1996, 11 min.), A Tom Tom Chaser (2002, 11 min.), Capitalism: Child Labor (2006, 14 min.), Capitalism: Slavery (2006, 3 min.), and Movie that Invites Pausing (2021, 20 min.) and the release also includes the feature-length films The Sky Socialist (1963-1964/2019, 96 min.) and Tom, Tom, The Piper’s Son (1969, 115 min.) (to round out the expansive collection).

Jacobs is both an acclaimed filmmaker and a film professor, instructing students in the art of filmmaking. Kino Lorber is proud to present a collection containing several of his most accomplished and acclaimed shorts and feature-length productions. Born in New York, Ken Jacobs draws inspiration from his time living in Brooklyn. The material included in the set includes numerous shorts that drew inspiration in Jacobs time in Brooklyn, New York.

The early works of Ken Jacobs showcase NYC life and the raw realities of the city landscape of the time. The shorts have been preserved in collaboration with the Anthology Film Archives. Jacobs is an award-winning filmmaker who has been honored by the American Film Institute, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Ken Jacobs is regarded as one of the most influential experimental filmmakers working in the medium. Little-known to some, Jacobs is considered a revolutionary director exploring abstract filmmaking and avant-garde expressionism. Jacobs recalls the likes of Jean-Luc Godard and the freewheeling expression of the French New Wave.

NYC is the back-drop of Orchard Street. Showing the raw reality of the city – from shop-corners to street performers, cats, and lone wanderers – Orchard Street is a compelling short film. The experimental and thought-provoking short feels part documentarian and part avant-garde mind-bender (and audiences should appreciate the experimental nature of the filmmaking and the exquisite framing of the camera).

A freewheeling spirit.

Jack Smith delivers horrifying performances in Little Stabs at Happiness and Blonde Cobra, it is as though Jacobs filmmaker is descending in to a total state of madness – it feels akin to entering a mad-house with a man escaped from the looney-bin – horrifying, chaotic, and disturbing. These films have horrifying and disturbing performances. Audiences will find the mad-house style piercingly disturbing and the performance is an example of the depths of chaos an actor can go to for a role. Audiences who are uncomfortable with films depicting these types of scenarios may struggle but the artistry on display remains notable.

Later works became even more experimental for Jacobs with digital filmmaking tools heralding in his new approach: relying upon stroboscopic effects in order to transform traditional silent films and photography in to new and innovative forms of expressionism. These shorts exude confidence, experimentation, and a sense of vitality.

Capitalism: Child Labor is a disturbing short film with a horrific undertone about exploitation in the child labor period of Victorian history. The short uses still photography combined with stroboscopic effect to create a haunting portrait of the time. The effect could cause nausea for those sensitive to epileptic effects as the pulsating imagery creates a shocking effect (and a warning disclaimer precedes the presentation).

The same critique could also be said of the late-career Movie that Invites Pausing, a short film using an increasingly chaotic effect of stroboscopic effects with brightness flickering at a rapid speed – some audiences may feel as though their eye-balls are being pushed to their absolute limits. The result? Madness. Chaos. The short will test the limits of audiences with pulsating visual effects and may ultimately cause more squeamish viewers to feel nausea. Indeed, the movie invites pausing.

Ken Jacobs: Collection – Vol. 1 offers an incredible assortment of experimental works from the brilliant and complex filmmaker at the helm. Jacobs doesn’t shy away from making audiences feel uncomfortable with his work. Exploring topics as complex as slavery while using experimental visual effects is compelling and will cause audiences to confront the realities of our world’s past – and make one consider the possibilities of the future. A filmmaker with a gift for pushing boundaries and finding rhythm in the experimental nature of film, Ken Jacobs is a filmmaker with a gift. Fans of Godard should take note of the similar nature of disregard for the traditional rules of filmmaking.

Ken Jacobs Collection, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The short films and theatrical features have been restored and are preserved utilizing the best available masters. The quality of the restorations and short films varies across the collection and some of these films unsurprisingly appear to be in better condition than others. Tom, Tom, The Piper's Son was a feature provided with a brand new 2K restoration completed by the Museum of Modern Art. The included short films from his late-career are in better condition than some of his earliest shorts, exhibiting more dirt, scratches, and print deficiencies that are inherent in the source used.

Ken Jacobs Collection, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The audio on the release is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. The lossless audio quality on the release preserves the original sound design. The majority of the included shorts and features are silent presentations. Only select shorts provide audio presentations (and most are sparse and experimental in sound design). Some of these shorts have a combination of silence and experimental sound selections, which is keeping in the nature of Jacobs filmmaking. Though the non-traditional sound designs are certainly far from the norm, the audio encoding by Kino Lorber is true to the source.

Ken Jacobs Collection, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Includes a booklet featuring an essay entitled "Ken Jacobs: Film Philosopher" as penned by author J. Hoberman. The booklet also includes a selection of photographs and a listing for all of the shorts provided in the collection (alongside information about their release year and run- time).

The release includes on-disc supplements as well:

Disc 1:

Conversation between Director Ken Jacobs and film scholar Tom Gunning (HD, 28:51)

There are no additional bonus features included on disc two of the collection.

Ken Jacobs Collection, Vol. 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Ken Jacobs: Collection – Vol. 1 is an outstanding set representing the vast body of the work from acclaimed filmmaker Ken Jacobs. The filmmaker is considered a pioneer of experimental and avant-garde filmmaking with good reason. Jacobs is a freewheeling spirit with a disregard for the traditional rules of cinema in the same vein of Godard. The release includes a plethora of early and later career films. The release also includes an exclusive conversation with Ken Jacobs and scholar Tom Gunning. Fans of the filmmaker should consider is an essential purchase. Highly recommended.