Review: Drawing Restraint 9
I saw Mathew Barney’s new film, Drawing Restraint 9 yesterday with Oscar.
My feelings are mixed. I don’t know which I desparately wanted more: a fast-forward button or a mute button.
Like the Cremaster Cycle, I think this film would be better experienced as a series of still photographs that you can flip through or as a walk through the Gugenheim filled with its props. Facinating imagery, otherwise quite capitivating, worn flat by awful pacing and pointless repetition. The bloody dance sequence in particular, would have been much better if it wasn’t revisted so many times. Initially the cut up body parts are really disturbing, but after he goes back to them a dozen or so times you start to notice the shoddy effects. You notice these because there’s nothing else going on to draw your attention or suspend your disbelief. All that’s there is the fake legs, floating around under a big piece of white plastic (or wax? who knows).
And that song with the japanese guy wailing and beating a wooden block. Seriously, it went on for half an hour. Like the film itself this song was painfully slow. There were these long pauses in it and I kept thinking the song was over but then…
[Thwack]
Ssossoooouyuuuuuuwwwwwywyyooooo!
whhhoooooooooop!
[Thwack]
aaaiiiyyyyoooooooooot!
It was back again. I like bjork. Her contribution to the sountrack was nice, but man the rest of it was just plain antagonistic to the audience. You know how lazy dipshit film makers use the “ringing telephone” to create tensinon? It’s like that times a million.
Aside from my gripes, here are my observations: Most of the film takes place on a japanese whaling ship. They’re dressed in animal skins. The symbolism seemed to be dominated by themes of hunting. And vaseline. Tons of it (literally, but that’s to be expected).
i don’t know whether to laugh or be worried at the fact that you expect tons of vaseline…dunno, just seems peculiar.
shawn
6 Jul 06 at 7:02 am
The wailing song (pun intended) is Japanese court music, popularly used in Noh theater. I think its origins are in Buddhist chanting. For more info and to listen to the track called “holographic entrypoint” point to:
http://unit.bjork.com/specials/dr9/
I liked the fact that Bjork chose to incorporate court music into the fleshing scene. It was slow, ritualistic, and a little boring to us Westerners. Kinda like Japanese theater and Drawing Restraint 9.
Alicia
11 Jul 06 at 9:29 am
I have read also some other comments about this film and decided not watch it.
Alice
17 Jul 06 at 5:38 am