Drawing Restraint 9
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I finally went to go see Matthew Barney's _Drawing Restraint 9_ at the SFMOMA yesterday afternoon with some friends. My 3 friends hated the movie and 1 even thought of it as 2 hours he'd never get back.That said, I had a great time and enjoyed the film quite a bit--a lot of beautiful visuals with the camerawork (many long shots with something large and monochrome taking up a big chunk of the foreground...lots of interesting scene composition work), many cool visual contradictions that are part of looking at a big commercial boat (like how there's always over-sized machinery to keep the boat functionally running next to miniaturized fixtures and knobs for people-use).
Image from SFMOMA's feature on BarneyAs for the soundtrack, in general, very cool listening--it's worthwhile catching this in a theater with all the crazy surround-sound capabilities you get. A lot of the incidental music was either heavily influenced by or must have been made by Matmos, and it worked brilliantly. Half-muted analog blips and toots circling their way around you, when paired with the photography, left a memorable impression.The opening scene was an elaborate gift-wrapping demonstration with Will Oldham singing a characteristically "Bjork" song-narrative. I didn't know he was involved with the soundtrack, so it was a pleasant surprise. His voice singing in that style almost made him sound like Sting, though, which kinda freaked me out.The songs where Bjork sang made me feel like I was in there drinking the same old Bjork cola. Too much repetition of intervals and phrasings I've heard her do over and over on all of her records. Don't get me wrong--she has a beautiful voice and I enjoy much of her recorded music...I just hoped that for this project she would have taken a step or two further away from whatever normal physical-memory-stamp schtick she usually draws from.iTunes link to soundtrack Be sure to listen to the way-awesome in-and-out multi-reed instrument on track 6. I'm not sure what it is, but it souds a little like this Hmong instrument called a qeej I've played around with some - info.Overall, its well worth the investment of an afternoon if you're in the Bay area. Be wary, though, if you're not into slow-moving stuff with very little dialog. Daily free screenings at 2 PM at SFMOMA until Sept 17.screening info
Image from SFMOMA's feature on BarneyAs for the soundtrack, in general, very cool listening--it's worthwhile catching this in a theater with all the crazy surround-sound capabilities you get. A lot of the incidental music was either heavily influenced by or must have been made by Matmos, and it worked brilliantly. Half-muted analog blips and toots circling their way around you, when paired with the photography, left a memorable impression.The opening scene was an elaborate gift-wrapping demonstration with Will Oldham singing a characteristically "Bjork" song-narrative. I didn't know he was involved with the soundtrack, so it was a pleasant surprise. His voice singing in that style almost made him sound like Sting, though, which kinda freaked me out.The songs where Bjork sang made me feel like I was in there drinking the same old Bjork cola. Too much repetition of intervals and phrasings I've heard her do over and over on all of her records. Don't get me wrong--she has a beautiful voice and I enjoy much of her recorded music...I just hoped that for this project she would have taken a step or two further away from whatever normal physical-memory-stamp schtick she usually draws from.iTunes link to soundtrack Be sure to listen to the way-awesome in-and-out multi-reed instrument on track 6. I'm not sure what it is, but it souds a little like this Hmong instrument called a qeej I've played around with some - info.Overall, its well worth the investment of an afternoon if you're in the Bay area. Be wary, though, if you're not into slow-moving stuff with very little dialog. Daily free screenings at 2 PM at SFMOMA until Sept 17.screening info
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