River of Fundament

The latest work from visual artist Matthew Barney, 'River of Fundament' is a three act, five-hour-plus opera-film that very loosely – and very expensively – adapts Norman Mailer's novel 'Ancient Evenings' into a parable of American decay. It seemingly parallels the decline of the American auto industry with the moral decline of American society, as Mailer himself is reborn three times into what seem like progressively more depraved Detroit and New York. Or we may have completely misunderstood whatever the hell was going on when we saw it at the prestigious Adelaide Festival back in March. What we can confirm is that it is beautiful, it is disturbing, it is DEFINITELY not suitable for minors to watch, and it is like nothing you've ever seen before. There are songs, there's a guest performance from Maggie Gyllenhaal, there is a lot of poo. It plays in London for one performance only – the strong of stomach are advised to make a date.