“Jagged and elliptical . . . [Frank’s films] subvert precepts of genre, story, and technique.” (New Yorker)
Frank pushed the boundaries of film, as he did with every art form he touched. In these rarely seen selections, chosen from among dozens of videos and movies made over the course of 50 years, he features Beat artists speaking scripted dialogue blended with improvisation, merrily blurring the lines between fiction and documentary.
Pull My Daisy
Starring poets Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and Gregory Corso, artists Larry Rivers and Alice Neel, and musician David Amram—and narrated by Jack Kerouac—Pull My Daisy is based on a true story in which Beat icon Neal Cassady and his wife invite a bishop over for dinner only to see the party crashed by their raucous crowd.
Robert Frank/Alfred Leslie. 1959. 30 m. NR. US. English. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Me and My Brother
Poet (and longtime partner of Allen Ginsberg) Peter Orlovsky and his schizophrenic brother Julius are the subjects of this fictionalized story that takes the two men through the colorful Beat landscape. When Julius abruptly wanders off set, actor Joseph Chaikin takes over his role to fascinating effect. Christopher Walken and Sam Shepard appear in their feature film debuts.
Robert Frank. 1969. 91 m. NR. US. English. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
