Step Across the Border

Step Across the Border is subtitled:

A ninety minute celluloid improvisation by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel.

"Improvisation" here refers not only to the music, but also to the film itself. Humbert and Penzel state in the 2003 DVD release of the film:

In Step Across the Border two forms of artistic expression, improvised music and cinema direct, are interrelated. In both forms it is the moment that counts, the intuitive sense of what is happening in a space. Music and film come into existence out of an intense perception of the moment, not from the transformation of a preordained plan.[2]

The film is not narrated, and the musicians, the music and the locations are not identified. Instead it is a sequence of "snapshots" taken of Frith and musicians he has worked with, rehearsing and performing, interspersed with apparent random images of movement (trains, cars, people, grass) that blend in with the music. The improvised nature of the film and its Direct Cinema approach make it more of an art film than simply a documentary on a musician.

The music in the film is performed by Frith on his own, with others, and by others on their own. Some of the music is improvised, some is composed material performed "live", and some is previously recorded material played as accompaniment to many of the "movement" sequences in the film.[3]

The recording of the film coincided with the formation and activity of Frith's review band Keep the Dog (1989–1991), and many of the participants of the band appear in the film. There are even a few rare glimpses of the band rehearsing. René Lussier in particular, features prominently and "interviews" Frith about his musical upbringing and approach to music.

The title of the film comes from the lyrics of the song "The Border", recorded by Skeleton Crew on their album, The Country of Blinds (1986). A brief "video" of this song also appears in the film.

Musicians appearing in the film include:

• Fred Frith
• René Lussier
• Jean Derome
• Kevin Norton
• Bob Ostertag
• Haco
• Iva Bittová
• Pavel Fajt
• Tom Cora
• Tim Hodgkinson
• John Zorn
• Eitetsu Hayashi
• Joey Baron
• Cyro Baptista
• Arto Lindsay

• Jonas Mekas – narrator on "The Butterfly Wing Effect"
• Julia Judge – narrator on "The Sound of One Hand Clapping"
• John Spaceley – narrator on "The Sound of One Hand Clapping"
• Tom Walker – narrator on "The Sound of One Hand Clapping"
• Ted Milton – television dancer on "The Border"
• Robert Frank – old man in train

• Japan
  • Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto
• Italy
  • Verona
• France
  • Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
• Germany
  • Leipzig
• England
  • London, Yorkshire
• United States
  • New York City
• Switzerland
  • Zurich, Bern

In a review in The Boston Globe, Betsy Sherman said Step Across the Border is "a tribute to the doggedly creative spirit of those who swim against the tide of commercialized pop culture."[4] She called Frith "an engaging subject" and a "happy pilgrim, open to inspiration and discovery".[4] Writing in the Los Angeles Times, John Henken felt that the film's "cinematic posturing" is "at odds with Frith's pretention-free music", but added that the ambient travel-sounds have their "own voice", and blend in well with the film's "Frithian aesthetic".[5] Henken found the final third of the documentary "compelling" and "poignant".[5]

Reviewing the film in the San Francisco Examiner, Scott Rosenberg said Frith is "simply a guy who loves the sound of an electric guitar", and while the sounds he produces may seem a "racket ... it's a beguiling one".[6] But he was disappointed with the filmmaker's "celluloid improvisation" where the camera appears to "wander aimlessly". Rosenberg felt that the documentary "degenerate[s] into despondent randomness" instead of focusing on Frith and his playing.[7] "Aurally, Frith achieves something more than bare noise – but Humbert and Penzel have created cacophony's visual analog."[7]

• In 2000 the film was chosen as one of the 100 most important movies in film-history by critics of Cahiers du cinéma, Paris[10]

In 2003, Winter & Winter Records (Germany) released Step Across the Border on DVD. It contained a slightly shortened version of the original film, plus 12 "bonus tracks" and a trailer of Middle of the Moment, another documentary film by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel, with music by Fred Frith (released on the soundtrack, Middle of the Moment).

A few segments totalling about seven minutes were removed from the original film, including the "video" of the song "The Border" by Skeleton Crew, and Keep the Dog rehearsing "Norrgården Nyvla".

Some thirty years after Step Across the Border was released, director Humbert reviewed over thirty hours of audio tape that were not used in the film. Humbert and French sound designer, Marc Parisotto used these tapes to create a sound collage of ambient noise and performances by Frith, Cora, Ted Milton, Bittová, Haco and Zorn.[11] The result was presented at a Berlin cinema in January 2019 with Frith improvising live on guitar over the sound piece.[12] The performance was recorded and broadcast by Deutschlandfunk in February 2019.[13] In January 2020, RogueArt released the radio broadcast on CD entitled Cut Up the Border and credited to Fred Frith, Nicolas Humbert and Marc Parisotto.[11][14]

• Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel, Step Across the Border (VHS, RecRec Music, 1990)
• Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel, Step Across the Border (DVD, Winter & Winter Records, 2003)

• Step Across the Border at artfilm.ch
• Step Across the Border at IMDb