The Wonder Ring (1955) User Reviews

Stan's Easy Rider moment.

[st-shot · 7/10 · 31 January 2021]

Experimental film maker Stan Brakhage climbs aboard the Third Avenue Elevated and rides around town in one of his more accessible works, The Wonder Ring. Recording the soon to be demolished Third Avenue elevated, it is an energized, crisply edited and unusually graceful and static work. Counter to the frenetic stylings of Brakhage the film is carried along by the natural flow of the train along with an added distortion bonus provided by subway car windows. Evoking other big city silent documentarians such as Vertov and Rathmann, there is little hint what direction this filmaker would take in the future. One that would be as challenging to the viewer as it was to the maker.

Early Brakhage, nothing happens as always

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 26 September 2015]

This is a 5.5-minute short film from over 55 years ago and the director is the very prolific Stan Brakhage when he was still in his mid-20s, pretty early in his career. It is not his usual boring style, but not much interesting either. Basically this film is a collection of recordings from a city, some from outside, some through a train window. There are almost no people in here, just buildings, but sadly this silent film is not interesting in terms of architecture either. I was pretty generous here with the voting, but honestly, there is still no real reason to watch this film and I'm glad it did not run any longer. Not recommended.

fascinating little film by brakhage during his earlier filmmaking years

[framptonhollis · 8/10 · 30 December 2016]

At times, Brakhage's works almost seem like the cinematic equivalent of the stream of consciousness writing style that is often associated with some of the greatest, yet most challenging, works of literature. Both styles are somewhat fast and disorienting, but they're also beautiful and interesting-a true look at the human mind and what surrounds it.

This film is definitely very interesting, despite having no story or structure whatsoever. It is really just a collection of images that Brakhage shot one day, and these images grow more and more fascinating as the film explodes into a festival of color and movement. Most of the visuals are unbelievably stunning(the train footage is especially breathtaking). Brakhage is very unique in the way that he makes mundane objects seem beautiful and surreal.