"Free Radicals" is a 1958, 4.5-minute short film by Len lye from new Zealand. And even if this one is also almost 60 years old, it was Len Lye's penultimate work and he wasn't a prolific artist at this point anymore. Nonetheless, this one here is definitely a contender for his most known and best-received work. Other people moved on from color to black-and-white, but Lye, who already used color in his early works made this one here in black-and-white, so he went against time basically. I am not sure if this metaphor was his intention though. Maybe he was just in the mood for something different. The animation is nothing special as in most of his other films. To me, the music has always been the highlight and it is in this one as well. The melody of the drums is nice to listen to. However, a record can give me the same experience. I do not need to watch an experimental film for that sensation. Not recommended and I believe in terms of what we see this is certainly among Lye's weaker versions. I guess a lot of his creativity had already vanished at this point and new ideas were rare.

FREE RADICALS has very glowing reviews and I have to dissent. Having seen many, many animated shorts and experimental films, when I saw this film I thought "oh no--not ANOTHER film like this!". That's because I've seen lots of films with simply drawn images (often scratched into the film) dancing to the music. With films such as FREE RADICALS, A COLOUR BOX and HARPYA (among others) in this style, you certainly CAN'T call this film original or ground-breaking. It's just one of several and after seeing one or two, I can't stand the thought of watching more.Overall, it's interesting if you haven't seen anything like it, but otherwise I can't see the point. Plus, if you show it to kids, they're likely to balk at seeing the film--even though it is only five minutes in length.

Along with A Colour Box and The Peanut Vendor, Free Radicals is another highly exciting experimental animated short by Len Lye. Seeing chalk white lines constantly moving on a black background with African drums playing throughout makes for one of the most unique experiences I've ever seen in animation history. How is it I've never even heard of this guy until today when I looked up Cartoon Brew and there was an item about The Peanut Vendor (an early experimental stop-motion from the early thirties) that depicted a monkey and various uses of his tail. The item took me to YouTube which also had Free Radicals and A Colour Box and I was blown away by all three shorts! To anyone with a taste of the unusual, I suggest you seek all them out!

it seems simple, almost too simple. white scratches on black film, abstract lines that move to the rhythm of african drums. yet this film is captivating. the lines seem to become three-dimensional and jump out at you, and combine with the beat to dance. worth seeing if you get the chance.