THE GRAND BIZARRE

A film by Jodie Mack
2018, 61 minutes
No. 291
Documentary
THE GRAND BIZARRE
$375.00
?
FAQs
Description
A rapid-fire eye-popping and ear-pleasing study of textile patterns around the world. Filmed over five years, in fifteen countries, director Jodie Mack places textiles against surprising backgrounds, editing the imagery to a homemade pop soundtrack.

Following components,systems, and samples in a collage of textiles, tourism, language, and music, the film investigates recurring motifs and how their metamorphoses function within a global economy.


Festivals
Official Selection, San Francisco International Film Festival
Official Selection, Locarno Film Festival
Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival
Official Selection, AFI Fest

Reviews
"The Grand Bizarre has a look and feel that’s starkly different from anything you’ll find in today’s Hollywood. Filmed on grainy 16mm film stock, the images have an organic, lightweight quality even as they address heavy topics like manufacturing and distribution. [...] Mack's The Grand Bizarre must be seen to be properly experienced, preferably on a big screen, where one can wander through her images." - Monica Castillo, Hyperallergic

"Once in a blue moon, though, we’re treated to a magnificent feature-length dazzler like Jodie Mack’s The Grand Bizarre: a colorfully kinetic hour of stop-motion playfulness, painstakingly shot by Mack herself in far-flung locations around the world." - Mike D'Angelo, The A.V. Club

"For fans of Mack’s juxtapositions of natural and synthetic imagery and of her fascination with repetition and patterns, The Grand Bizarre is surely the artist’s most accomplished work." - Christopher Machell, Cinevue

"There is a romantic or perhaps even maternal care given to each and every frame. The realization that there is nothing accidental about the finished product–that every cut is intentional–is shocking for such a free-flowing film." - Jason Ooi,  The Film Stage

"The overall experience of The Grand Bizarre is, in a lot of ways, an extremely eye-opening one. It forces a viewer to consider how complicated and incredible every single stitch of a rug, or a scarf, or a dishtowel actually is, and how easily it is to overlook that fact." - Nick Rocco Scalia, Film Threat

"Jodie Mack, the most playful and imaginative avant-garde filmmaker of her generation, delivers her longest work to date, and the results are characteristically inspired." - Ben Sachs, The Chicago Reader

Subjects