Surreal cinema: The Cremaster Cycle

Wow, where should I begin? After seeing the five films of the Cremaster Cycle during the last three days my brain is overloaded by its more than 6 and a half hours of strange, beautiful, surreal and at times just plain weird images.

So what is this? The short and concrete answer is that it is the works of artist Matthew Barney, sculptor, drawer, photographer and filmmaker that has taken him ten years to complete.


What is it about then? It might be easier to say what it isn't about, the themes spans between birth and death, reality (well, not so much) and mythology. There is not always a clear story although there might be hints of one, it is often more of a ongoing process. Barney takes symbols, myths and rituals and creates his own universe reflecting his views, through something that a lot of times resembles performance art.

The soundtrack of Jonathan Bepler works really well setting the mood, ranging from hectic and noisy to calm and romantic, shifting with the different styles of the films.

This is something one should try to experience with an open mind, not trying too hard to figure out "what it means", in my opinion. When you go for a roller coaster ride you aren't sitting there trying to calculate velocities and accelerations, right?

The Cremaster Cycle is a ride, and depending on what you get a kick out of it can be a good one.

This weekend there's a Ingmar Bergman festival, maybe Bergman will look like Spielberg by comparison... :)

/O.K.