henwar rodakiewicz, water, light and the mechanized eye

henwar rodakiewicz (1903-1976): portrait of a young man (1925-31), 54 minutes.
from the dvd set unseen cinema, the mechanized eye, experiments in technique and form.

54 minutes of drifting clouds and smoke, pulsing mechanic devices, abstracted water, and trees and leaves being blown about by the wind.

from the wonderful bruce posner's box set unseen cinema.

can't seem to find out much about henwar rodakiewicz except that he did the script for the film the city in 1939.
portrait of a young man is a great example of "the long form", or, films that are challenging in subject matter, but don't conform to the traditional short length of the avant-garde film (other examples are andy warhol's empire or michael snow's la region centrale).

here are some images from the film:

water

water

machines

machines

machines

water

smoke

leaves

clouds

water

for other studies of artists using nature, see woolgathersome's lovely study of snow crystals and ice palaces.