“I hate to be pinned in front of the camera because that’s what I do people,” Robert Frank, the legendary photographer, tells the audience early on in “Don’t Blink—Robert Frank,” the new film by Laura Isabel, which will be showing at the Film Forum from Wednesday, July 13 to Tuesday, July 26. This writer can attest to just how uncomfortable being before the camera can be for someone who has largely lived their lives behind the camera, and Frank, the great documentarian, is on full display.
Now in his 80s, Frank came to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s with his seminal work, “The Americans,” which documented the changing face of a nation. Though the book took nearly a decade to become the respected work of art it is now considered, Frank charged forward, making art, namely experimental documentary films, collaborating with ordinary folks as well as the Rolling Stones. These projects were not commercial endeavors, and most people, even fans of Frank’s photography, never saw the films. In “Don’t Blink,” we get to see footage from many of the films, and this documentary is worth the price of admission just for that.
Frank spent much of his early career as a photographer gazing outwards; with his move into filmmaking he turned his gaze inward, documenting his life and family, exposing often painful realities. He says “a photograph is just a memory” at one point, which leads us to ask what a film is? It seems he is always asking questions of his subjects, often his children, and they seem reluctant participants.
The film tracks the course of his life, including his purchase of a home in Nova Scotia, where he spends a great deal of time over four decades. All the while his work as a photographer follows him and forces him to confront his artistic and personal legacy. Israel, a longtime editor for Frank’s films, has all the access she needs, and we see Frank by turns a cranky oldster and an irrepressible cute oldster. He’s constantly photographing the filmmakers and questioning them as they go about their work. He is great at deflecting probing questions, and it is June Leaf, his second wife, who is often the most revealing when it comes to who he is as a person.
There are always people who will be interested in any portrait of an artist, but “Don’t Blink” is accessible to a wider audience. You may not know or care who Robert Frank is, but this touching portrait of a man in his twilight is well worth going to see.
“Don’t Blink—Robert Frank” screens at Film Forum, located at 209 W. Houston St. in Lower Manhattan, from Wednesday, July 13 through Tuesday, July 26.