Bildfelder - Liebesräume
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JÜM-JÜM
1967, Farbe, 10 Min.
Ein Film von Werner Nekes und Dore O.

Dore O. schaukelt vor einem von ihr selbst gemalten Bild, einem übergroßen, abstrahierten Phallus. Die Vier-Bild-Montage, Oben-Unten-Vertauschung läßt den Zuschauer den Bewegungsprozeß als künstliches, filmisches, sowohl synchrones, als auch asynchrones Erlebnis begreifen.

"...ein immens schöner und aufregender Film..." Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, Filmkritik, 12/1969

"...Zum ersten Mal erzeugt Nekes durch die Montage eine neue, filmische Bewegung des gefilmten Objektes...
Mit der Zerlegung der Schaukelbewegung in vier Einzelbilder schuf Nekes - damals noch intuitiv - die Grundlage seiner Filmtheorie, deren Ziel in der Umwandlung des Bildmaterials in Informationsenergie besteht..." Thomas Imbach

JÜM-JÜM
1967, 16mm, colour, 10 min.
together with Dore O.

In front of a large painting (by Dore O.) showing a an abstract phallus, a woman (Dore O.) in a swing moves backwards and forwards. The continues movement of the swing is broken up and structured through montage by Werner Nekes according to a simple rhythmic beat.

T - WO - MEN
1972, Farbe, 90 Min.
Mit Geeske Hof-Helmers, Dore O.

"T - WO - MEN" ist der erste Nekes - Film, der so etwas wie eine erkennbare durchlaufende Story hat - die Liebe oder die Unmöglichkeit einer Liebe zwischen zwei Frauen. Es ist gleichzeitig sein formal reichhaltigster Film. Nicht nur, weil die fünf Sequenzen mit völlig verschiedenen Mitteln abeiten, sondern auch deshalb, weil alle diese Variationen in einem Finale kulminieren, dessen technische Rafinesse und optische Vielfalt in Europa ohne Vorbild ist und selbst amerikanische Parallel - Erscheinungen in den Schatten stellt."
Peter Steinhart, Rheinische Post, 6.12.1972

"Technisch bewundernswert und kühn. Nekes gehört zum filmischen Untergrund. Die Erneuerungen der Stilmittel, daran ist kein Zweifel, kommen von hier."
Brigitte Jeremias, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 17.10.1972

"Kein anderer deutscher Filmmacher des anderen Kinos geht so souverän und erfindungsreich mit seinem Material um wie Nekes, kein anderer hat jenseits der traditionellen Filmästhetik so radikal und sensibel zugleich neue Ausdrucksmöglichkeiten gefunden."
Hans C. Blumenberg, Kölner Stadtanzeiger, 13.10.1972

"...ein Werk, streng wie eine musikalische Partitur, stechend wie eine Erinnerung."
L´Art Vivant Nr. 2, aout/sptembre 1973, Paris

"Hervorragend" Die Zeit, Filmtips, 30.03.1973

"...ein bisher unerreichtes paranarratives Meisterwerk..."
L´Art Vivant, 10/1974

T - WO - MEN erhielt 1972 das `Diplom d´Excellence`in Montreal, den Spezialpreis in Mannheim und wurde von der Filmkritik zum besten Film des Jahres 1972 gewählt.

T - WO - MEN
Germany, 1972, sound, colour, 90 mins, 16mm. Sound by Anthony Moore. With Geeske Hof-Helmers and Dore O.

Werner Nekes: a short comment on the aesthetic organisation of T-wo-men: The orthography of the title refers to the 'horizontal readability' of film. The tiniest film information is an amalgamation of two individual images in the mind of the recipient. Cader A joins up with Cader B to achieve the thaumatropic effect, to a form a 'cine', the smallest transmission element of cinematic information. If one wants to arrive at conclusions concerning cinematic 'language', one must analyse this element, the 'cine' or groups of the same. Just as image A forms a compound with image B, thus simultaneously, image B combines with image C. The 'cine' is determined by the exact difference (in the sense of information theory) between Cader A and Cader B. The identity of two Caders, in other words, no difference whatsoever creates an illusion of a 'standstill' a slight difference, that of motion and a maximal difference, that of a complete merging of forms. Part 1,2 and 4 are examples for 'horizontal', parts 3 and 5 for horizontal and vertical readability of film."

"The film consists of five parts which differ trechantly in rhythm and structure. In part one the viewer is subtly put in an erotic mood: shoes and legs are shown, parts of a faded dress, two pale marble faces. This hovering, floating part is succeeded - even in music - by hard, quick pop rhythm (part 2). Images changing in split seconds, isolated shots. The third part uses super-impository techniques (up to five layers). Just as in the films of his wife, Dore O., repetition of certain elements (the surge of the sea, a certain street motif) evokes a chain of associations: parting and separation. The final part combines both in music and in image all motifs struck up so far. A difficult film, driving viewers from the cinema. Technically admirable and daring. Nekes belongs to the underground of film. It is here that innovations of stylistic means originate." - Brigitte Jeremias, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Oct 17 1972.


Werner Nekes has done some of the most interesting film work in Germany, with over twenty-five films completed to date....T-wo-men uses this basic emphasis on the horizontal or diachronic movement from one frame to another against a vertical or synchronic movement of superimposed levels of the frames to set up intense activity within the smallest possible moments of viewing time." - John du Cane Time Out, August 1973.

For Nekes these are the principles of filmic organisation: real environment, mostly landscapes, is transformed into artificial images by means of complicated camera and montage techniques...The technique of dissection and re-combination of image material by single-frame, multi exposures, space and time intervals during the shooting of the same area, are all variously applied in T-wo-men...A certain insecurity in his concept becomes apparent in that in each film title he mentions the actors, although they are mostly unrecognisable because of their shadowy appearance, and fulfil no obvious function. These 'actors' are usually Nekes himself, his wife, child and friends. He tries to bring personal experience into the film by naming the actors and thus recalling the actual events of the shooting. The formal aspect seems to be insufficient, and he therefore tries to enrich it by emotional values which do not lie in the film but are referred to it from outside.. Nekes sees the means for the structural extension of image language in 'polyvisuality', 'image cluster' and 'camera movement which is determined by space co-ordinates'. This extended language of images is for him a way of starting to 'change the minds (thinking) of the recipients, by changes in the medium'. –
Birgit Hein, 'Return to Teaso'. Studio International, Nov/Dec 1975.