Filmworks by Brian Purcell, Flying Islands Press 2024, was launched by D.G Lloyd at the ‘Poets Picnic’ Markwell on 8 December 2024 and at the Shop Gallery Glebe on 26 January, 2006.

Brian Purcell is an Impressionist – both painter and poet.

While many of his paintings are impressionistic of nature, his poems – particularly in his latest book Filmworks – are more impressionistic of movies. (It’s almost like a juxtaposition of the still life and the motion picture. The point being, his approach to Impressionism is as far-reaching as possible.) And, like his paintings, Purcell’s poems are more or less characterised by a select number of essential details which convey a sense of urgency in both feelings and sensations.

We currently live in a time where watching people’s reactions to films is very popular on the internet. Many Youtubers are even making a living out of it. They video tape themselves watching various films for the first time … and hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people log on to watch them. But what Purcell offers us is infinitely more compelling and intimate. Rather than recording his physical reactions … he is documenting his poetic reactions.

It obviously goes without saying, if you enjoyed the films, you’ll certainly enjoy the poems in Filmworks. However, it’s not mandatory to have seen the movies; because these poems are much more than companion pieces. They stand on their own, with their own merits.

Secrets
we all have them
and they kill us …
………………………………..‘The Imitation Game’

Even if you haven’t seen The Imitation Game (a bio about Alan Turing), you can immediately identify with such a universally human statement.

… You ask me if
I’m machine or flesh.
Does it really matter?”

This stanza doesn’t just reference the film, it also functions as an indictment on humanity’s increasingly more intimate relationship with technology – since the industrial era began, we have become more connected with technology while becoming more disconnected with nature and even with other people. It’s almost Ballardian.

There are a variety of perspectives and roles Purcell uses throughout Filmworks. You’ll notice as you read the book, he is sometimes the audience, sometimes the lone observer and commentator; and occasionally he even takes on the role of director. There are moments where he is the protagonist of his own life (or movie perhaps?) and there are moments where he literally is the protagonist of the film. The latter being most notable in poems like ‘8 ½’ and ‘At Eternity’s Gate’. Purcell’s first-person narrative intensifies a feeling of intimacy which effortlessly makes him become the character simply by identifying with them and the concept of ‘The Artist’s Journey.’

With so many roles and perspectives, whilst maintaining a singular consistency with his voice, Purcell is encompassing the entirety of his world, our world and the world of cinema into one amalgamative vision.

So effective is his use of imagery, that it often crosses the barrier between establishing environment and/or mood into the realm of creating genuine symbolism. This no more defining than in the two poems: ‘Un Chien Andalou’ and ‘Blue Velvet’.

The pierced eye cannot see
to reach the object of desire.”
…………………………………….‘Un Chien Andalou’

In the back lots of Lumberton
Jeffery finds an ear
severed, as if a crazed artist
was stranded there and couldn’t leave.
…………………………………….‘Blue Velvet’

Not only do these stanzas evoke strong imagery and impressions – psychological and emotional – of the films in question, but they also highlight a subtle, yet devastatingly impactful, symbolic acknowledgement of our two sensory organs (eyes and ears) through which the medium of film registers (visuals and audio). And it’s an unsettling picture (the pierced eye, and the severed ear) … it’s like we’re losing something inherently valuable, and yet there’s a calm acceptance in it.

The motion picture, for better or worse, is eternally relevant to the human condition … we’ve been absorbing films for a hundred years and will continue to do so until our extinction. And maybe to poeticise about it is one of the most relevant forms of artistic expression we have left.

I could go on, but I think the best way to experience and comprehend Brian Purcell’s poetry is to hear it for yourself directly from the man himself. I’ll just finish by saying: Australia is very fortunate to have Brian Purcell in its cultural landscape. He is an artist who values life, nature and humanity and has an uncanny ability to capture and preserve them – while leaving pieces of his own soul in the mix just for our amusement – in very unique yet very relatable ways.

 – David Grant Lloyd

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Filmworks by Brian Purcell is available from https://flyingislands pocketpoets. com.au/ product/ filmworks/