Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray is now available in the Criterion Collection.
The Criterion Collection is the holy grail of physical media collectors. It’s a godsend to cinephiles, offering not only well-known classics like The Breakfast Club and Risky Business, but also releasing obscure and strange films that may have otherwise gone unseen. Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray is a perfect example of the latter. Without its new release in the collection, I undoubtedly would have never experienced the bizarre world of Man Ray’s short films.
Related: Eyes Wide Shut (4K): Criterion Collection Review
What is Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray about?
Man Ray, a photographer and visual artist, was a major figure in the surrealist cinema movement of the 1920s. He used the medium to bring his incredibly unique vision to life through the art of short films. The Criterion Collection has bundled four of his most remarkable efforts into a single film, accompanied by an amazing score by SQÜRL.
Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray review
A still from Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray – Credit: The Criterion Collection
Photo Credit: The Criterion Collection
A still from the short ‘L’étoile de mer‘ by Man Ray – Credit: The Criterion Collection
Photo Credit: The Criterion Collection
Photo Credit: The Criterion Collection
It’s clichéd to describe a film as “an experience,” but that’s truly the only fitting description of Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray. The movie comprises four silent short films: Le retour à la raison, Emak bakia, L’étoile de mer, and Les mystères du château du dé. Each of those short films acts as a standalone experience worthy of exploring on its own, but combined and watched back-to-back, there’s an entirely new experience to be had.
The addition of a score from SQÜRL, Jim Jarmusch’s band, truly elevates the viewing experience. The music is so perfectly suited to the imagery it accompanies that it’s hard to separate them, and watching the film without the music would feel futile by comparison. Some of the shorts have a loose narrative story, while others consist of seemingly random images and scenes stitched together to form a cinematic collage.
I most appreciate Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray for its strange and experimental nature. Equally utilizing erotic and disturbing imagery to elicit a varied and complex response, it’s the type of thought-provoking blend of visual sensation we might expect to see in a short film today, but may forget that this level of creativity existed in the earliest stages of film.
The special features
New 4K digital restorations of all four films, featuring a score by SQÜRL presented in 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio
Interview with Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan, who form the avant-rock band SQÜRL
Concert from 2023 featuring SQÜRL performing its semi-improvised score to Man Ray’s films
Trailer
PLUS: An essay by author Mark PolizzottiNew cover by Fred Davis
Order your copy of Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray from the Criterion Collection here.
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