Humbert & Penzel: Step Across the Border

I needed a break from watching new documentaries and through the Swiss https://www.artfilm.ch/de/dokumentarfilme (many films for free streaming) I was brought to watch this Swiss classic from 1990. The title was familiar but I could not remember if I had seen it before. I had not. 30 years old but still fresh and fun to watch, because of its energy, of its constant surprises in its narrative construction; „let’s try it all” as the leading music genius Fred Frith does, FF being (indeed when you watch his ”instruments”) multiinstrumentalist, composer and improviser. He is here, there and everywhere, in the studio, at a concert, in the countryside playing with friends, in a cellar improvising, in landscapes – in NY and very much in Japan where a good deal of the film is shot. Rainy streets, Japanese sleeping in the train, FF and colleague discussing at a Japanese outdoor kitchen. ”I am happy if just one person comes to me after a performance saying that it meant something for him or her”.

… and I remember the creative collaboration that FF has had with German filmmaker Thomas Riedelsheymer – “Touch the Sound” (2004), a true masterpiece with the nearly deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie and FF. 

The sound/music is great, you will listen, like it or dislike it. There is a movement in this powerful film, and for the fans of Jonas Mekas and Robert Frank there are small bits with them to enjoy.

Love what the directors say, quote: “In unserem Film treffen sich zwei verwandte künstlerische Ausdrucksformen: Improvisierte Musik und Cinema direct. In beiden Fällen geht es um den Moment, um das intuitive Begreifen, was in einem Raum vor sich geht. Musik und Film entstehen aus der verschärften Wahrnehmung für das Augenblickliche, nicht aus der Umsetzung eines gedanklichen Plans.”

Nicolas Humbert und Werner Penzel

The film can be watched for free via the link above.

Switzerland, 1990, 84 mins.