Three Music Films by Mathieu Amalric at the New York Film Festival 2017

Barbara Hannigan subject of two of Mathieu Amalric's films

The New York Film Festival screened three short documentaries by Mathieu Amalric who is best known as being an actor. Amalric started behind the camera and made the switch when director Arnaud Desplechin began to cast him in roles.

Amalric has directed more films than the 17 listed at IMDB. I say that with certainty since the films that played the New York Film Festival are not listed in his credits. While he is a very good director of fiction films, it is in his documentaries that he truly shines to the point it could, and should be argued that he is one of the finest documentary filmmakers working today

C’est presque au bout du monde (France, 2015, 16m)
Short film made at the request of the Paris Opera is a portrait of Barbara Hannigan warming up her voice and rehearsing for a performance. Stunningly shot the film is an almost too intimate portrait of an artist getting ready to give her best. It is a sensual experience as the marriage of word and music come together to create something tactile.

Zorn (2010-2017) (France, 2017, 54m)
Let me cut to the chase- this is one of the best films of the New York Film Festival and of 2017. It also may very well be one of the best music documentaries ever made - I'm talking top three or five.

Started as a project for TV this film spun out of control and has been, and still is, a work in progress. This is a portrait of musician John Zorn as shot by a close friend. There are no voice overs, no explanations, there is simply Zorn over the years performing, joking, laughing and watching with his friends and other musicians. Clearly shot on the fly by someone with whom Zorn trusts completely this is a documentary that is unlike any other. There is a level of ease and openness no other music documentary has ever had because no other music doc was shot like this, piece meal here and there when friends were just hanging out.

It will amaze and delight you even if you don't know Zorn's music simply because this is so inside  as to make you feel like  you were there.

I need to mention Amalric's use of editing. Watching the film you will quickly realize that his use of sound and image is unlike most things being done today. Working with editor Caroline Detournay he has made a film that stays in your eyes and ears long after the film has finished.

A masterpiece and one of the truly best music docs you will ever see.

(Now if he would only finish it)

Music Is Music (France, 2017, 21m)
Again working with Barbra Hannigan and editor Caroline Detournay, Amalric gives us a portrait of Hannigan as she is putting together her latest album, and the Girl Cray suite in particular.We watch as Hannigan conducts the orchestra and is prodded into singing along with her.

A more fully formed portrait of Hannigan, this is delightful piece that really takes us into the soul of the performer. It is a wonderful little film that makes you wish that this was longer and covered the making of the whole album.

And this is also a fantastic showing of Amalric as a manipulator of sound and image as he sucks us into becoming intimate with the woman at it's center.

Worth tracking down.

(This film is available on Hannigan's latest CD which comes with a DVD full of extras)

Below is the Q&A that followed the NYFF screening where Amararic, Hannigan and Detournay discuss the making of the films

John Zorn Opens a Portal to Japanese Film's Forbidden Zone: 'The Dark Side of the Sun' at Japan Society

When speaking about the influences that have led to my strong interest in many things Japanese, not the least of which involves film, I usually lie. Well it’s a lie of omission, at least. My mentioning Tetsuo the Iron Man and even the anime Akira draws enough blank stares, so I usually shift from there to more familiar ground. My exposure to John Zorn and his subversive cultural imports from the east end up being left out of the picture, not only for this reason but it’s been some time since getting myself back in touch with his highly immersive body of work.

A brief history of my encounters with the cult of Zorn goes something like this:

Early 90's. thanks to older sister with adventurous listening tastes, get a glimpse and an earful of John Zorn squalling away on a saxophone, evincing sounds unimaginable. The old Knitting Factory. On Houston street.

Devour as many CD’s as possible to make up for the legendary performances of his band Naked City that I narrowly missed out on. As well as recordings of various other projects. This would introduce me to Zorn’s penchant for collecting and presenting dark imagery from Japan by way of his album’s artwork, which gets to the heart of how essential a curatorial effort like the one Zorn has put together for the Japan Society is. Throughout I’ve sprinkled assorted artwork displayed in John Zorn’s CD’s, to give a sense of his eye for the extreme. Included are painted pieces by Maruo Suehiro, Japan-based English artist Trevor Brown, and photographs of finely crafted disquieting dolls.

Late ‘90’s. the Knitting Factory’s next incarnation. On Leonard Street.  I would watch, Zorn collaborate on cacophonous improvisations with Eye Yamatsuka, legendary screamer of Naked City and Boredoms; and set air raid siren screams spiraling amidst the plodding dirges of Painkiller, Zorn’s improv unit with bassist Bill Laswell.

Early 2000’s. Zorn’s relations with the Knitting Factory had deteriorated. He opens Tonic. On Norfolk Street. I experience Dizzyingly complex and deeply layered collaborations with vocalist Mike Patton percussionist Ikue Mori.

I would later spend a few years in Japan and Tonic would close its doors.

It was some 10 years later when I’d reconvene with Zorn’s work again. Part of a series of events to commemorate his 60^th  birthday. at the Anthology Film Archives. I sat, mesmerized, as he led a group of his peers through live scores of rare archived experimental films. I saw a collection of short animated works he had provided soundtrack work for, including The Cynical Hysterie Hour anime.

And now, we have this new series at Japan Society, The Dark Side of the Sun: John Zorn on Japanese Cinema. A revival, in a sense, of irregularly held screenings that brought Zorn's film discoveries made while residing in Tokyo to the once thriving scene of East Village small venues. Leisurely paced at one film per month between now and February of 2015, it offers a singular glimpse into the shadowy nooks and crannies of Japan’s cinematic past, some more rare than others. All selected by Zorn. All being shown the way cinema should be seen: In a darkened theater. Of particular note is CROSS ROADS (jujiro) a silent experimental film from 1928, worth attention the fact that there will be a live shamisen accompaniment alone; MATANGO, a seemingly straightforward social commentary thriller from the ‘60s that bursts into a vivid Technicolor color bomb of psychedelic imagery; and a screening of 8 short animated films by Osamu Tezuka masterful creator of a wide range of historically renowned manga from Black Jack to Buddha. Up first is the provocatively titled INFLATABLE SEX DOLLS OF THE WASTELAND (still images directly below), a noir-ish looking black and white film from 1967, which plays this Saturday, October 18^th.   

For schedule information and a note from John Zorn about the event, visit the Japan Society website. Check back here for more updates.