Watch The Girl's Nervy

Jennifer Reeves rekindles the avant-garde tradition of frame-by-frame filmmaking with this spirited painted film. Sinewy fissures splinter the geometric confections and viscous pools of decaying nitrate are set dancing to the slightly warped sounds of Tommy Dorsey and Raymond Scott's big band jazz. Recalling Len Lye and Oskar Fischinger's buoyant experiments in visual rhythm, Reeves' short nonetheless marches to the beat of its own drum. Even Stan Brakhage, who knew something about hand-painted film, wanted to know: "How does she get the paint to crack like that?" - Max Goldberg