Man Ray's "The Sea Star," is initially intriguing for its blurred images which appear to be shot through water, or waved glass--like a Richter painting. The images are banal yet enigmatic; the out of focus quality seduces the viewer and demands a closer examination of what is actually occurring in the frame. The film's structure is interesting in that it clearly out of particular avant-garde moment in the late 20s, yet it has not done away with narrative entirely. The loose narrative suggested in the film shows a romance between a couple, a somewhat mysterious purchase of a star fish, and the dissolution of the affair in the final shot (the final scene is filmed off of a mirror which shatters as the final image). Man Ray uses elusive and poetic inter titles to punctuate the shots, which is interesting because generally inter titles are used to elucidate what is going on, however here they only serve to further obscure the meaning. He also frequently uses a vignette effect to zero in on an object in the frame that is significant to the narrative (ie a flower or a star fish), reminiscent of the way Hitchcock uses the forward tracking close up shot to imbue an object with suspense or intrigue. Many of Man Ray's shots are well composed and very still, bringing the work into conversation with the still image as well as still life painting at some moments. While some shots are composed in a very calculated formally balanced way, just as many are more casually composed with a greater degree of abstraction involved. The tension ultimately makes the film novel and visually captivating.
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