Why should I buy a bed when all that I want is sleep?

The American minimalist poet Robert Lax (1915-2000) is praised for his originality and spirituality. He was a companion of the painter Ad Reinhardt and the religious philosopher and monk Thomas Merton, who had a strong influence on the poets of the beat generation. After decades of a nomadic life between America and Europe, working as a screenwriter in Hollywood, as a film critic in New York and as a clown in an Italian itinerant circus, he has lived withdrawn for 30 years on the Greek island of Patmos. In his poetry, Robert Lax pursues a maximum compression of language - to the point where only individual words and syllables remain which represent the essence of language. His artistic concept of reduction, in which a pause becomes as important as the things said, makes Lax a kindred spirit of the American composer John Cage. The present films are the outcome of a long-standing friendship between Robert Lax and the filmmakers Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel.

Why should I buy a bed when all that I want is sleep? – A chamber film with Robert Lax
Directed by: Nicolas Humbert & Werner Penzel, Germany 1999 (53')
Lax Readings, 2009 (13')
Photographs by Nicolas Humbert, Patmos 1993-1993

Edition Filmmuseum 07
Language English/Greek Subtitles english, deutsch
Screen 1:1.77 - 16/9 PAL Sound DD 2.0 (stereo) FSK 14 Region code All regions