Matthew Barney's Drawing Restraint 9 is virtually an impossible film to review, not because there isn't anything to say about it, but because Barney is primarily a visual and performance artist and his films reflect those origins to such a degree that they defy any sort of easy summary or categorization. Conventioanl narrative is gone entirely as Barney relies on a string of powerful images and a musical score provided by his wife and costar Bjork to drive home his points. There is not even dialogue to fall back on as the entire film - two and a half hours of it - contains only a handful of spoken lines. To many this will, no doubt, seem like nothing more than two and a half hours of pretentious wankery, but there is undoubtedly a purpose to Barney's work, a strong underlying point, it is just that it requires you to decipher his particular visual language to decipher it.
The story, such as this film has one, follows two 'Occidental Guests' - Barney's term - who board a Japanese whaling vessel and undergo a series of rituals loosely based on traditional Japanese marriage rites. The two arrive, are bathed, shaved, dressed in incredibly elaborate robes, take part in a tea ceremony and, finally, engage in a powerfully visceral - and often just plain unpleasant - transformation. The film is a constant barrage of stunning images - traditional dancers on parade; white clad pearl divers; the costuming; the enormous whale shaped mold on the ship's deck filled with what the program describes as liquid petroleum jelly but which looked far more like melted down fat to me.
Barney's imagery primarily revolves around human interactions with the natural world. His effects are distinctly and often disturbingly moist, they ooze and congeal, they are secreted rather than made. Ocean creatures are present everywhere from the fossil of the opening scene through to the shells and whale shapes present everywhere on the ship. While I doubt I unpacked even a third of Barney's images on first viewing - this is a densely packed film - the bulk of them seem to revolve around humanity's interaction with nature and the painful nature of love, both consuming and nourishing, destructive and creative. While I won't get into specifics and spoil the effect the eventual conclusion of the wedding ceremony is a stunningly executed piece of graphic unpleasantness that perfectly captures the double edged power of commitment to another person.
Music fans will want to know about Bjork's score and it is excellent as a score though I'm less certain of how it will work seperated from the film as it is some of her most abstract work. She fuses her electronic work with traditional Japanese sounds, reeds, chanting, her own voice and that of Wil Oldham. She is also remarkably comfortable on camera, often appear to belong more fully to this bizarre world than does even Barney himself, its creator, which makes a certain degree of sense.
Drawing Restraint 9 is a demanding film, one you have to be prepared to give some time and effort to. It does not give up its secrets easily. Many will simply not have the stomach or patience for it but it is definitely a worthwhile and significant piece of work. Not so much entertaining as enlightening it is a beautiful piece of work, huge in scope and flawless in execution.
Matthew Barney DVD releases (other than The Order) please! :|
I've seen the Cremaster Cycle and The March of the Anal-Sadistic Warrior, and I really would like to see DVD releases of these movies.
Before the release of The Order rumours said that Palm Pictures had acquired DVD release rights to the whole Cremaster Cycle, has anything been heard of this since?
Though I'd say that his later movies would really benefit from a more hi-res format than DVD, so perhaps some HD release would be a nice showoff of the technology.
What I've seen of Björk's video contribution to Gabriela's pavilion for Iceland at the Venice Biennal had strong hints of Barney's visual language too, can anyone say if he was involved with this?
Palm Pictures was supposed to release a Cremaster series DVD box set... What the hell happened to those plans? There wasn't even an explination why it was put on hold.
Just asked the Palm guys about that ... word is the Cremaster films likely won't be hitting DVD because Barney wants to keep exhibiting them and won't be able to do so if they're readily available on DVD.
There will be no dvd release of the Cremaster series. Art collectors have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for those films, and even though it was advertised in Europe, a dvd set for mass market release will not be happening because said art collectors are throwing a hissyfit about it. I suggest that someone take initiative and start a petition to get Barney to buy back the films, and therefore free them from the snobs who refuse to let anyone else enjoy them.
how the hell will i ever get to see drawing restraint 9, does anybody know any special showing of this in the uk?! will it ever be released?
my sentiments exactly
Yes, well, I can't even find a running trailer of D.R. 9.
I am in full, dissapointed agreement with the issues concerning the unavailability of the Cremaster series. This is the same old issue of 'art as commodity.' We lose the truth of art through it's acquisition by those who are putting it up on a pedestal and forgetting about it.
The inspiration stirred in me by Bjork is sometimes overwhelming, and Matthew Barney's imagery stirs similar effects. What if Bjork decided not to release her cd's to the public because some big-wig art honcho payed her billions of dollars to 'own' a piece of her? We'd all go crazy.
Inspiration, like energy is neither created nor destroyed; it is passed along, touching those lucky enough to embrace their own drive to create. I am disturbed by Barney's decision to sell out big on The C. cylcle, but he's in a weird high-art world where he needs big money to cover high production costs.
It would be amazing if the C. cycle and DR 9 were more readilly available...so we didn't have to go rip them, thereby contributing nothing to the artist...except for our need to make their work a part of us.
I agree. I've been searching for some way. Any way to check out DR9 but to no avail. I've got the soundtrack and i'm dying to see the story. Everytime I listen to the soundtrack I kinda feel like I'm only being told half the story and that I'm missing out on a major part of the puzzle. So who's going to start that petition?
Hey, totally for a petition... i hate the way that this form of art is so hard to view! If you wished to see a work by someone like Dali you can by a book or something but NO if you wish to see this film you got to look on the net for eight days to hear that someone in a chatroom said that there sisters boyfriends friend got a rip copy......... well any way if you would like to see the Trailers for DR9 copy and paste this...
http://a.videodetective.com/trailer-preview.asp?customerid=97135&publishedID=589742
It's disappointing that it's so unavailiable. So few people will actually get to see it.
A DVD edition would be amazing.
hola.. me parecio interesante el trailer de "drawing restraint 9&".. pero aun no se de que trata la historia.. creo que a mi pais no llegara aun, hasta harto tiempo mas.. supongo.. bueno.. esta bueno.. adios
(((karvel)))
I find it interesting that nobody seems willing to acknowledge the fact that Matthew Barney,is nothing more than a pretentious hack,who somehow managed to con people into believing that he is an,"artist." I recall seeing,"Cremaster 3,&" a few years back,and being horrified of the praise people were coating it with,during the intermission. But,when you're a pretentious art-lover,i guess you don't noticed that fact that what you're watching is unexcusable garbage...A sad comment on the world today,nonetheless.
Jason, not everything that lacks an apparent message is pretentious. You can't penetrate its images to find any meaning, so you call it pretentious, which if true doesn't make Barney less of an artist, or make cremaster's images less interesting. Assuming that nobody but Barney actually understands cremaster or his other movies, interpretations never satisfy, but people still find something to like about it even if they don't understand it and it's left undefined. Just about all art is meaningless without the artist spilling the truth about it, but it doesn't render the art itself any less attractive and inspiring by surface aspects, like nature. Besides, what gives you the all-knowing authority to define what an artist is? Artist is still one of the most elastic and ambiguous terms applicable today.
don't want to make those of you who haven't seen it feel worse but suffice to say keep trying coz it's worth it. I managed to see it in Tokyo (for some reason bjorks films - but not music - are very popular in japan, so it was quite easy to see) i hope i can find a copy of it somewhere in the future. ganbatte!
fu*k matthew barney!!!!! all the greats made art for the people. matthew makes it for his wallet. if you want to see the Mona Lisa you open a book or fly to Europe. if you want to see a Barney movie.....you're fucked. shame on you asshole!
"fu*k matthew barney!!!!! all the greats made art for the people. matthew makes it for his wallet. if you want to see the Mona Lisa you open a book or fly to Europe. if you want to see a Barney movie.....you're fucked. shame on you asshole!&"
erm, if you want to OWN the mona lisa, i believe you'd have the same problem as owning the cremaster cylce or drawing restraint 9...
...it baffles me that people supposedly interested in art cannot see this.
Just because an artist produces a work in a film-form, something we are used to owning in our own homes, people expect it to be reproduced and made readily available.
Do you now expect marc quinn to make blood casts of his head for all our mantle-pieces?
Matthew DOES make art for the people. It is just a shame they don't exist in permenant collections at this moment in time. You have to remember that when a piece of art is concieved and produced, it is concieved and produced for viewing within a certain context. The context of Barney's work is a sculptural one, and he very much views his films as pieces of sculpture. I think with this in mind, you should be able to appreciate his decision to not mass produce them.
I could've seen this,but didn't because I'm an idiot American who said "ah well,my freinds won't go because they need a hollywood story to be entertained;I'll wait for the dvd.&" Well,I should've known after the rediculous release of the itty-bitty PART of ONE Cremaster film is all Barney will offer up.It's nice and all if he wants to keep his art on a personal level and not inflate it to the dvd stage,but c'mon...ONE DAY showings in cities is bunk all-around.I know that's not an uncommon thing,but if Lynch could have "Inland Empire&" for a two-week stand in Minnesota,Barney(or his distribution comp) could've done the same.I want the art,can't have it,WON'T have it anytime soon,and that chaps my hyde as the picante-pushers say.
To be straight to the point - the DVD quality version of the film is out there, though very scarce and selling in excess of several hundred dollars a copy. However, I have talked to the people that sell it and can get more, if anyone is interested. The film is a Gold disc archive, which is about the best you can find in quality. I have one and am really happy to own it!
Occidentalist, you know people that can get the film on dvd? how much did yours cost?
-suck my pussy, take a look on Fulci or Soavi movies if you like visually astonishing ones, must have been some of barney influences too...
DR9 should simply be shown more often and in more places. I was lucky enough to see it in Rochester, but it played for less than a week. If a DVD is not available (I hear this is because only the funders have a right to own the movie), then lets see more of it in theaters! Let's do a round two and hit a hell of a lot more places this time!
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