‘Exposing Muybridge’, a documentary about the art and science of pioneering photographer Eadweard Muybridge, is trotting toward release less than two weeks after Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’ put Muybridge’s proto-cinematic images of moving horses in a new spotlight.
The documentary, written and directed by Marc Shaffer, is in a sense a standard, PBS-ready biographical investigation in which talking heads recount the highlights of Muybridge’s career. By comparison, Thom Andersen’s 1975 ‘Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer’ made more innovative use of Muybridge’s photographs for visual purposes and for storytelling. Still, Shaffer spends time on aspects of Muybridge’s legacy that not all standard overviews make.
Before turning his attention to movement, the film notes, Muybridge shot landscapes in the West. Shaffer follows photographers Byron Wolfe and Mark Klett to Tenaya Lake in California’s Yosemite National Park, where they attempt to locate Muybridge’s original vantage point. They also analyze photos from the same location by 20th-century photographers Edward Weston and Ansel Adams, to highlight Muybridge’s distinctive eye as an artist.
Others share their views on Muybridge’s eccentricities. Actor Gary Oldman, a collector of Muybridge’s work who has been involved in the making of a Muybridge biopic, comes across as a serious enthusiast when he lays out the photographer’s motives and photographs. Biographer Marta Braun and art historian Amy Werbel dispute the idea that Muybridge’s movement studies at the University of Pennsylvania should be regarded as scientific, in line with the university’s apparent expectations. Film historian Tom Gunning suggests that Muybridge was, unknowingly, some sort of surrealist ancestor.
While the presentation is starchy, “Exposing Muybridge” makes it clear that the subject matter images still have a lot to show us.
Exposing Muybridge
Not judged. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. Rent or buy on Apple TV, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV providers.
