Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Screaming Masterpiece (2005)

Director: Ari Alexander

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Thanks largely to the success of Björk and Sigur Rós, Icelandic music has now gained a substantial international profile, associated with ethereal melodies, thumping beats and passionate, occasionally loopy performers. Ari Alexander’s documentary profile of the scene provides a tasting menu of performance footage and uses a plethora of talking heads – the musicians themselves plus academics, journalists and visitors (including, briefly, an apparently tired and emotional Damon Albarn) – to offer a potted history of Iceland’s rich musical heritage and a contemporary snapshot of a cottage industry going global. From the opening minutes – camera skidding over far-below glaciers and an interview with the nation’s head druid (also a composer and Sigur Rós collaborator) – Iceland is established as a place apart, but while those with an interest in the music should find much to enjoy, neophytes may be dissuaded by a somewhat self-congratulatory emphasis on the scene’s continuity and community (contemporaries mucking in on each other’s sessions, established artists happily giving newcomers a leg up). That said, early footage of Björk as a pubescent post-punk pixie-rocker is great.

Author: BW 2005-12-12 17:06:09

Time Out London Issue 1843: December 14-21 2005

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Screaming Masterpiece

Cast & crew

Director: Ari Alexander

Producer: Ari Alexander, Sigurjon Sighvatsson

With: Björk, Sigur Rós

Genre(s): Documentaries

Duration: 87 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.