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Reviews

Matthew Barney: No Restraint

Bjork, jelly, and Japanese

By NINA MACLAUGHLIN | January 24, 2007

2.5 Stars

For an artist/filmmaker best known for impenetrable, high-budget, art-gore-sex-sculpture movies, Matthew Barney comes across as a pretty approachable dude in Alison Chernick’s documentary about his Drawing Restraint 9. Chernick tries to unpack the methods and madness behind the project, which involved a Japanese whaling ship, solidified whale puke, a crew of skeptical Japanese in jump suits, and 45,000 pounds of petroleum jelly. Oh, and Björk, the mother of Barney’s child. Barney, a Yale grad and ex-model (he’s kept his striking good looks), speaks lucidly about what he’s up to, as does Björk, and the scene in which they rip the flesh off each other’s legs is especially illuminating. Chernick shows how the jock in Barney informs his work (he was a high-school football star) but avoids any voice of dissent. She would’ve done better to pose some questions about the legitimacy and value of his work.

Related: OOH-OO CHILD, Stuff and nonsense, Drawing Restraint 9, More

OOH-OO CHILD
Childhood in America comes under the artist’s gaze in Pine Flat , the fifth film by Sharon Lockhart, and it’s examined with precision and attention to detail.
Stuff and nonsense
Despite millions in production design, Peter Strietman's splendid photography, and some witty if trance-inducing music by Jonathan Bepler, the six and a half hours of Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle is sheer movie tedium, inert and unmoving, broken up by imagery that's more irritating than fascinating in its self-indulgent preciosity.
Drawing Restraint 9
Oddball performance artist Matthew Barney’s new vanity project is misguided, derivative, and overstated but often arresting.
Darfur Now
Theodore Braun’s probing documentary about the genocide crisis in Darfur takes a hopeful approach.
War/Dance
Like countless reality TV shows and other current-day documentaries, this film from Sean Fine and Andrea Nix is organized conveniently, and conventionally, around a contest.
The Last Atomic Bomb
It’s difficult to criticize a documentary about the horror of nuclear warfare and how to prevent it from happening again.
Die Große Stille|Into Great Silence
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J.L. Aronson’s documentary about Daniel Smith’s religion-inspired family rock band, who made a point of playing in nurse uniforms, has a lot going for it: a cast of cuties, cool cameos, fun costumes.
Iraq in Fragments
James Longley’s documentary about the War in Iraq isn’t groundbreaking, but it does put a face on the grim reality of Iraqi life and the mounting anti-American sentiment (“They are worse than 100 Saddams”). Watch the trailer for Iraq in Fragments
Constantine's Sword
Scarier than Jesus Camp (and infinitely smarter), Oren Jacoby’s documentary film of Boston Globe columnist James Carroll’s 2001 book Constantine’s Sword casts Christianity as a lost ark raided by the worst bullies of history.
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Phil Grabsky had Amadeus squarely in his sights when he set out to make this documentary celebrating the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
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