Born to Film
Danny Lyon
Bleak Beauty Video
Born to Film, 1982, New York and Mexico, b&w, 33 minutes, a young boy emerges from the filmic history of his past.
“‘Born to Film’ is, among other things, intimately autobiographical, interspersing footage of Lyon’s own young son with film shot in the 1930’s by Lyon’s father, a doctor who immigrated from Germany. . . Lyon’s passionate vision has deepened and grown in resonance and the film is not just family or even social history, but about human continuity, the power of instinct to survive, the grace that love and play bring to it, the wonder of being alive.”
Thomas Albright, San Francisco Chronicle
“. . . in his relationship with his father and son in Born To Film, Lyon serves as a connecting link, collaging together separate lives. The disparate, often incoherent or contradictory images are presented with a passion and directness which gives them reality. . . “
Pamela Allara, Pictures from Films/Films from Pictures, 1984
