Robert Breer (1926-2011)
LMNO (1978)
It seems like an under-appreciated gem from Breer’s filmography and shows off a particularly cartoony sensibility amid the unrelenting kinetic energy and avant-garde moves. To make a list of recognizable images in the film is to get a hint of what it’s about: a breakfast table, a man slipping on a banana peel and then being run over by a train, various small animals, backyard leisure activities, a man falling, and so on. The title has a certain Dada quality to it, which resonates with the elegantly anarchic spirit present in Breer’s films. Like most of Breer’s work, LMNO is absolutely mesmerizing and absorbing when seen as a film print in a theater. There, the individual frames pop crisply, and the mind can wander and make intuitive connections within the film.