Movies Like Early Abstractions (1965)

Early Abstractions is a 1965 animation film from Harry Smith with a MovieMagicScore of 6.2/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Fuji and Blazes.

Animation

Fuji

1974

A live action footage of a smiling, bespectacled (presumably) Western tourist set against the familiar cadence of an accelerating train revving up as it leaves the station sets the mesmerizing tone for the film's abstract panoramic survey of an Ozu-esque Japanese landscape of electrical power lines, passing trains, railroad tracks, and the gentle slope of obliquely peaked, uniform rooflines as Breer distills the essential geometry of Mount Fuji into a collage of acute angles and converging (and bifurcating) lines .

5.7

MagicScore

Blazes

1961

100 basic images switching positions for 4000 frames.

4.7

MagicScore

Prelude: Dog Star Man

1962

A creation myth realized in light, patterns, images superimposed, rapid cutting, and silence. A black screen, then streaks of light, then an explosion of color and squiggles and happenstance. Next, images of small circles emerge then of the Sun. Images of our Earth appear, woods, a part of a body, a nude woman perhaps giving birth. Imagery evokes movement across time. Part of the Dog Star Man series of experimental films.

6.1

MagicScore

Begone Dull Care

1949

In this extraordinary short animation, Evelyn Lambart and Norman McLaren painted colours, shapes, and transformations directly onto their filmstrip. The result is a vivid interpretation, in fluid lines and colour, of jazz music played by the Oscar Peterson Trio.

6.9

MagicScore

The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics

1965

Animated work detailing the unrequited love that a line has for a dot, and the heartbreak that results due to the dot's feelings for a lively squiggle.

7.3

MagicScore

Free Radicals

1958

In this powerful abstract film with a soundtrack of African drum music, Lye scratched "white ziggle-zag-splutter scratches" on to black leader, using a variety of tools from saw teeth to arrow heads. The first version of the film won a major award at the International Experimental Film Festival Held in Brussels in 1958 in association with the World's Fair. Stan Brakhage described the film as "an almost unbelievably immense masterpiece".

5.9

MagicScore

Tarantella

1940

Here the artist creates a world of color, form, movement and sound in which the elements are in a state of controllable flux, the two materials (visual and aural) are subject to any conceivable interrelation and modification.

5.7

MagicScore

Our Lady of the Sphere

1969

Animation using cutout animation to craft a bizarre science fiction experiment. Moving spheres, such as balloons and bubbles, are superimposed on static backgrounds to suggest travel and discovery.

4.9

MagicScore

Stellar

1993

This is a hand-painted film which has been photographically step-printed to achieve various effects of brief fades and fluidity-of-motion, and makes partial use of painted frames in repetition (for "close-up" of textures). The tone of the film is primarily dark blue, and the paint is composed (and rephotographed microscopically) to suggest galactic forms in a space of stars.

6.4

MagicScore

#10

Mothlight

1963

Seemingly at random, the wings and other bits of moths and insects move rapidly across the screen. Most are brown or sepia; up close, we can see patterns within wings, similar to the veins in a leaf. Sometimes the images look like paper cutouts, like Matisse. Green objects occasionally appear. Most wings are translucent. The technique makes them appear to be stuck directly to the film.

5.7

MagicScore

#11

Eye Myth

1967

After the title, a white screen gives way to a series of frames suggestive of abstract art, usually with one or two colors dominating and rapid change in the images. Two figures emerge from this jungle of color: the first, a shirtless man, appears twice, coming into focus, then disappearing behind the bursts and patterns of color, then reappearing; the second figure appears later, in the right foreground. This figure suggests someone older, someone of substance. The myth? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

5.4

MagicScore

#12

House

1958

An experimental short film by Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica.

5.2

MagicScore

#13

(NULL)

2013

An unknown girl breaks out of her daily grind by undergoing an intense audio-visual trip.

8.1

MagicScore

#14

Possibly in Michigan

1983

A musical horror story about two young women who are stalked through a shopping mall by a cannibal. He follows them home, and here the victims become the aggressors.

7.6

MagicScore

#15

Our Trip to Africa

1966

Originally commissioned by an Austrian couple in 1961 to photograph a travel diary documenting their wild game hunt, Kubelka shot three hours of film and recorded fourteen hours of audio. Over the next few years, Kubelka toiled in the editing bay, producing a work charged with intricate, ironic brutality.

5.8

MagicScore

#16

Persian Series #2

1999

Multiple thrusts and then retractions of oranges, reds, blues, and the flickering, almost black, textural dissolves suggesting an amalgam approaching script. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

5.7

MagicScore

#17

37/78: Tree Again

1978

At the center are takes which do not change - a tree in a field in Vermont, U.S.A. Since the film was shot over a period of fifty days, the single frame shots create a storm of pictures.

5.5

MagicScore

#18

Persian Series #3

1999

Dark, fast-paced symmetry in mixed weave of tones moving from oranges & yellows to blue-greens, then retreating (dissolves of zooming away) to both rounded and soft-edged shapes shot with black. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

5.5

MagicScore

#19

Persian Series #1

1999

This hand-painted and elaborately step-printed work begins with a flourish of reds and yellows and purples in palpable fruit-like shapes interspersed by darkness, then becomes lit lightning-like by sharp multiply-colored twigs-of shape, all resolving into shapes of decay. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

5.2

MagicScore

#20

Son of the White Mare

1981

A horse goddess gives birth to three powerful brothers who set out into the Underworld to save three princesses from three evil dragons and reclaim their ancestors' lost kingdom.

7.5

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Early Abstractions?

The top films similar to Early Abstractions by MovieMagicScore are Fuji (5.7), Blazes (4.7), Prelude: Dog Star Man (6.1). Each shares animation themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Early Abstractions worth watching?

Early Abstractions holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.2/10 from 20 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Early Abstractions?

Early Abstractions (1965) is a animation film directed by Harry Smith.

Where can I find more recommendations like Early Abstractions?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more animation recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Fuji Movies like Blazes Movies like Prelude: Dog Star Man Movies like Begone Dull Care Movies like The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics Movies like Free Radicals

About movies like Early Abstractions

This ranked list pairs Early Abstractions (1965), a animation film from Harry Smith, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap. Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

← Back to Early Abstractions