| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 05/20/2007 : 01:23:52
Just got home from seeing Brand Upon the Brain! at Chicago's Music Box Theatre. In case you haven't read about it in the Onion AV Club or elsewhere, this is a newly-made silent movie by Canadian director Guy Maddin. Those of you who have seen a Maddin picture will know exactly what to expect: extremely old-fashioned film techiques (think: dawn of cinema) in service of very modern sex, angst, and violence. That's oversimplification, but you get the idea. The themes in Brain! are the ones present in just about every Maddin film to date: shame and sexual guilt, disfigurement, isolation (geographic and emotional), the terror of growing up, and LOTS of Oedipal trauma. Maddin's films tend to be absurdly over-the-top melodramas played for uneasy laughs. The plot of this particular one had some strange parallels to the plot of the old sci-fi/horror fick The Leech Woman, but I'm guessing that's coincidental.
The picture itself is highly enjoyable, but what made this particular screening extra special was that the film was incorporated into a LIVE show. There were live musicians providing the score, foley artists doing sound effects (brilliantly), a singer on hand to croon two musical numbers, and most exciting of all, live narration by Crispin "get your damn hands off her" Glover! This must have been technically very tricky to pull off, but it went off flawlessly. Glover and the foley artists faced the audience but watched the film on monitors so they knew when to come in. There's so much to see and hear during the show that it's impossible to take it all in. I could, for instance, tell you a few things about that singer I mentioned earlier, but I'd hate to spoil one of the show's best surprises.
A version of the movie with prerecorded music and effects is playing at certain theaters, too, and it's well worth seeing. But the live version is not to be missed, especially for those of you who have forsaken the cinema experience for the DVD-at-home experience. Check it out:
http://www.branduponthebrain.com |
| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| randall |
Posted - 05/22/2007 : 16:35:13
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
Just got home from seeing Brand Upon the Brain! at Chicago's Music Box Theatre.
The picture itself is highly enjoyable, but what made this particular screening extra special was that the film was incorporated into a LIVE show.
That had to be thrilling. I remember years ago Warner Bros. put on a live show called BUGS BUNNY ON BROADWAY: a full orchestra playing live to selected musical shorts, including "The Rabbit of Seville." What a night that was as well.
I never saw that show, but I do have the soundtrack CD and it's an odd one. An orchestra plays the score from the cartoons, and it sounds like they're doing the sound effects live as well. Where the voices are coming from, I can't tell. Either they have actors performing them live, or they're using the original voice tracks.
No, they just performed the music to the voice and effects tracks from the original cartoons, which were being projected on a gigantic screen behind them, much like the setup on a real scoring stage. Every musician was wearing a headset to help synchronize. It was an odd experiment but very pleasant, and it made you realize how much effort goes into one of those things. Chuck Jones even came out and took a bow after one toon, to thunderous applause. |
| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 05/20/2007 : 20:13:05
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
Just got home from seeing Brand Upon the Brain! at Chicago's Music Box Theatre.
The picture itself is highly enjoyable, but what made this particular screening extra special was that the film was incorporated into a LIVE show.
That had to be thrilling. I remember years ago Warner Bros. put on a live show called BUGS BUNNY ON BROADWAY: a full orchestra playing live to selected musical shorts, including "The Rabbit of Seville." What a night that was as well.
I never saw that show, but I do have the soundtrack CD and it's an odd one. An orchestra plays the score from the cartoons, and it sounds like they're doing the sound effects live as well. Where the voices are coming from, I can't tell. Either they have actors performing them live, or they're using the original voice tracks.
The E.T. DVD has a neat extra: while you watch the movie, you can choose to hear the score being performed live (I believe, by John Williams) at a special anniversary screening of the film.
I'm always excited by the possibility of combining film and live performance. It's one of the things I like about Rocky Horror, the use of film as one element of a live performance. That film fan's have performed similar shows for other films like Clue and Shock Treatment, but I've not had the pleasure of seeing those. |
| randall |
Posted - 05/20/2007 : 10:18:39
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Blevins
Just got home from seeing Brand Upon the Brain! at Chicago's Music Box Theatre.
The picture itself is highly enjoyable, but what made this particular screening extra special was that the film was incorporated into a LIVE show.
That had to be thrilling. I remember years ago Warner Bros. put on a live show called BUGS BUNNY ON BROADWAY: a full orchestra playing live to selected musical shorts, including "The Rabbit of Seville." What a night that was as well. |
| Sean |
Posted - 05/20/2007 : 01:34:48
Sounds rather.... errmmm.... interesting.  Doesn't look like many have seen it yet.
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0443455/
Hopefully there'll be a DVD out one day, I'm not even sure if this will make it to NZ, although perhaps at the next festival.  |
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