Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

Un Chien Andalou

(The Andalusian Dog, France, 1928)

Written and directed by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali. Roger Ebert has this to say in his excellent review: “In collaborating on the scenario, their method was to toss shocking images or events at one another. Both had to agree before a shot was included in the film. ‘No idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted,’ Bunuel remembered. ‘We had to open all doors to the irrational and keep only those images that surprised us, without trying to explain why.’” It is a stunning short film, one every film student should see, though it may be hard to find. I haven’t seen it in almost 40 years, and many of the images still remain vivid.