Matthew Barney's "DRAWING RESTRAINT 9"

[Guest StuckOnStupid]

saw it last night. i thought it was great. i won't pretend like i really grasped what he was trying to say, but it was aesthetically challenging/pleasing, which is what art at it's core should aspire to be. the cinematography was phenomenal, the sets were real cool, and when it was weird, it was hea-ea-eavily fucking weird. also you see bjorks titty.

I overheard some chunky college-looking cunt say something about "prententious", and i wanted to tell her that just because you are too fucking dull to see the merit of something doesnt automatically make it pretentious.

anyone had a chance to see it?

[designersheep]

I saw it a few months back at a film festival. I'm not a big fan of Barney, so I wouldn't praise it like you would, but I do appreciate his unique aesthetics.

I see it this way: Barney is more of a sculptor than a film-maker, and when he makes films, it feels like the films are sort of a record of creation of his sculptures. By this I don't mean that he uses films to show how he created his sculptures, but instead his films guides us through a process of some sort of creation, not necessarily something materialistic, but an idea, or a concept. Simply put, we get to see a lot of acts that cannot be undone, and through a series of actions we end up with 'something', even if what it is may not be obvious or explicable.

Other projects I've seen of his are Cremaster 2 and The Order from Cremaster 3, and although I never liked any of them, I would prefer Cremaster Cycle (judging from what I've seen) over Drawing Restraint 9. So far I see too much strong symbolisms, and Barney is just not my cup of tea. Still, I would watch him over 99% of Hollywood 'entertainment' films being produced these days.

[viv1984viv]

I have a soft spot for barney, hes just so macho and straight and very phallocentric and his practic is so ambitious and "pro". I have only really seen cremaster 3 and that piece he did for the destricted dvd. His performance pieces are really good and hes really made the transition from performance to film very well.