Friday, January 29, 2010
Retaking Silent Films Back
The NW Film Center presented an evening of silent film with a seven piece orchestra known as Retake Productions. Retake's instrumentation consists of cello, violin, and two electric guitars on the audience left side of the screen, trumpet, acoustic bass and drums on the right. The result sitting in the middle of the Whitsell Auditorium was a kind of natural stereo accompanying two classic shorts from 1929 and excerpts of two important features of the silent era.
Lots of folks never got past the sliced eye shock of the opening sequence of Un Chien Andalou. Eighty years later, this collaboration of Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali can still beguile and stun. I believe it can only be described as the regurgitation of dream imagery. It is that and as filmmaker Guy Maddin (who also utilizes quite arresting images in his own films) points out, Bunuel and the surrealists were clearly very horny. And there is much evidence of this in Andalou and not just obviously in the groping scene. The Retake musicians provided a musical that complemented this unique eternal oddball rollercoaster. I am glad I was fairly familiar with the film or I may have felt a bit more overwhelmed at trying to absorb music and image. Guitarist/co-founder of Retake Kyle Williams said to the crowd at the film's conclusion: "I hope that didn't make any sense." In other words, they get it.
Regen by Joris Ivens has been one of my favorite film essays ever since I saw it over thirty years ago in the same building that the Retake performance was held. This collection of images of a constructed rainstorm in Amsterdam has obvious appeal and linkage for me as a native Northwesterner as Williams said it does for him. Of the four films in performance, I liked this Retake treatment the most, probably because I love this film and certain fine images in it. Williams and his musical partner drummer Adam Fuderer thankfully don't "Mickey Mouse" with their soundtrack treatments but strive again, I believe for that right set of balance.
The showing of the first ten minutes of Earth reminded me of my college studies in film theory that clearly illustrated how Soviet filmmaker Alexander Dovzhenko built his film piece by piece in a constructive way as one would create a house where his much better known contemporary Sergei Eisenstein would assault the viewer with montage imagery. The sampling from the Dovzhenko film showed that the Retake folks could create more than mood for abstract imagery but also play to support story. The opening sequence shows a grandfather's last moments on earth with both dignity and humor. The audience responded well for this.
The final piece was a mid section of Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North. You can listen to the Retake soundtrack here. It is worth checking out even without Flaherty's images. I especially like the nice interplay between the string trio and the two electric guitars on the track Fishing on the Thin Edge. The igloo building section was the centerpiece of the section shown at Reel Music, it is focused more on drums and guitar great for evoking the images of work intercut with Nanook's son playing.
I wish we could have seen this group play to the entirety of Nanook and Earth. I applaud and appreciate the ambition and ingenuity of Williams, Fuderer, and company for taking on such a task. I hope I have opportunity soon to see them present their scores to those films in full as well as other silent films. I think their instincts are good here working on creating a sound that is both contemporary and traditional. I hope they will continue this work and hope to check out Williams and Fuderer's other project, The Murder Trio.
posted by well-executed buffet at 11:02 PM
Comments:
Hi Robert,
This is Kyle Williams. You can reach me at info@retakeproduction.com
Thank you very much for the review. I would like to talk to you about quoting your writing for use on our website. Something like:
"Williams and his musical partner drummer Adam Fuderer thankfully don't "Mickey Mouse" with their soundtrack treatments but strive again, I believe for that right set of balance." - Robert Hughes (roberthughes.net)
Send me an email,
Thanks again
Kyle
info@retakeproductions.com
Post a Comment
This is Kyle Williams. You can reach me at info@retakeproduction.com
Thank you very much for the review. I would like to talk to you about quoting your writing for use on our website. Something like:
"Williams and his musical partner drummer Adam Fuderer thankfully don't "Mickey Mouse" with their soundtrack treatments but strive again, I believe for that right set of balance." - Robert Hughes (roberthughes.net)
Send me an email,
Thanks again
Kyle
info@retakeproductions.com
