Cremaster! Who's seen one?

[bluenoter]

Today I saw Cremaster 4 and Cremaster 5 (in a theater that had a large screen and excellent, if overbearing, sound). The combined 97-minute running time seemed like the longest 97 minutes of my life. Still, I was impressed by Cremaster 4 (though irritated by the continual race-car scenes) and impressed and generally delighted by Cremaster 5.

(The Cremaster Cycle is a series of five films by Matthew Barney. I can't begin to describe them, but maybe I'll post a description or review from somewhere online later.)

Sure, the films need more editing--a lot more editing. (And if Barney were to ask for my advice, I'd tell him to cut off Cremaster 5 at a certain point and turn the rest into a Cremaster 6.) Sure, they're the textbook definition of "artsy." But I found Barney's vision a force to be reckoned with, and if I can summon the fortitude, I'll see the three-hour Cremaster 3 later this week.

So what did those of you who've seen a Cremaster film think?

[bluenoter]

Hey, don't be shy. I've already read some vicious reviews of the films in the Cremaster Cycle. If you think that they're laughably overwrought pieces of trash (or whatever), please say so.

Surely somebody here has seen one (or is somehow familiar with Matthew Barney). Brian? Anyone?

[Brian Olewnick]

I've never seen them. I'm only familiar with the poster that appears, among other places, in the NYC subway, the one with Barney's (?) plaster-covered head emerging from something that looks like bubble wrap along with the clay-tinted heads of seven or so Asian-looking women. His face had something of the same super-annoying aspect I find in that of Steven Seagal.

I wasn't intrigued enough to investigate further!

[tippy]

I thought Cremaster might be some sort of kitchen appliance. Haven't heard of the film series, but I'm somewhat intrigued by your mention.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

I thought the same thing as Tippy. I thought it was a new type of espresso/cappuccino maker................

[Rob C]

It's the muscle that raises and lowers the testes. Close, though!

[Boris Badenov]

I thought it was a home cremation kit.

[tippy]

Cre-Master Melle Mel

[moneyp]

Never hoid of 'em either. Saw some neat pictures online, but a (positive!) review of the cycle made it sound potentially irritating.

Being a Left Coaster, I'll assume I'd have to wait for the DVD.

[bluenoter]

Hmm--I'd assumed that some of the films were already out on DVD, but I'm not sure.

Yes, "the male cremaster muscle . . . controls testicular contractions in response to external stimuli."

BALLS. The films have lots of BALLS (hee, hee).

The Cremaster Cycle (along with a related exhibit of Barney's artwork) has been playing at the Guggenheim for about four months and will close in a couple of days. It's playing at the American Film Institute's new DC-area theater this week only.

Brian, yes, that was Barney whose picture you saw, but he has more than one face. And yes, the films have the potential to irritate, but I swear, they also have the potential to delight. I don't hesitate to recommend #5, in which a still-lovely Ursula Andress "sings" a specially composed opera in Hungarian.

Aw, nuts, so to speak. Descriptions and still shots just don't convey the joys of the Cremasters. With that caveat, here's a link to the Guggenheim's website about the Cremaster Cycle.

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally posted by tippy
I thought Cremaster might be some sort of kitchen appliance.

I was hoping!

[Jon Abbey]

I'm a little surprised you missed the wave of Barney publicity, Mone, maybe it really is a NYC thing. I've read a bunch of articles about him, and can't quite bring myself to motivate to care, so I haven't seen any of his movies, or made it to the megahyped Guggenheim exhibition. none are out on DVD as of yet, and if and when they are, I'm guessing they won't be priced for the bargain-conscious.

[Jon Abbey]

oh, I forgot to mention that the best of the Barney pieces was the one in the New Yorker a few months back by their longtime critic, Calvin Tomkins, whose bio of Duchamp is essential reading for anyone interested in Monsieur Marcel.

[mke]

Originally posted by Jon Abbey
I'm guessing they won't be priced for the bargain-conscious.

I never thought of you as bargain-concious.

[Jon Abbey]

no, I'm not. that was my way of saying that they'll most likely be exorbitantly priced for the art collector market, at least at first.

[Uli]

Originally posted by bluenoter
I don't hesitate to recommend #5, in which a still-lovely Ursula Andress "sings" a specially composed opera in Hungarian.

Now you're talking!

[moneyp]

Originally posted by Jon Abbey
I'm a little surprised you missed the wave of Barney publicity, Mone, maybe it really is a NYC thing.

Could be I had heard about it and just forgot, but I think I'd remember a name like "Cremaster." :-)

[bluenoter]

I believe the Calvin Tomkins piece was in the New Yorker issue of January 27, but I can't find it online. However, this is the grudging conclusion of a rather harsh blurb in the New Yorker, Goings On About Town, Art, issue of 2003-03-31, posted 2003-03-24:

But to miss this landmark event is unthinkable.

Jon, if that quote and the Tomkins piece haven't convinced you, I can hardly expect to convince you, but I wish that you'd try to catch a Cremaster (#5, if you can, maybe #4, or the most recent, #3, which I haven't seen yet) while you still can.

Edit: Okay, here's the whole blurb, because I can't seem to get a link to it. But don't believe the worst parts!

GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
Fifth Ave. at 89th St. (212-423-3500)—“Matthew Barney: The Cremaster Cycle” attempts an apotheosis of the artist. Frank Lloyd Wright’s bobbin turns cornucopia, brimming with the fruits of Barney’s epic nine-year “Cremaster” project: all five spectacular, recondite films projected amid outlandish objects, photographs, drawings, decorative elements such as flags and artificial turf, and, along the ramp, runnels of congealed Vaseline. It’s oddly, numbingly earnest. There’s nothing fake about Barney. Would that there were. A touch of the charlatan (or of humor, God forbid) would prove that he cares what other people think. As it is, the show is seamlessly hermetic: a solipsist’s houseparty. Barney’s achievement appears to be a richly upholstered dead end. But to miss this landmark event is unthinkable. If not a major artist, he is certainly a major case. Through June 11. (Open Saturdays through Wednesdays, 10 to 5:45, and Fridays, 10 to 8.)

And I see that the films have made it to the West Coast and Chicago recently; I can't tell whether they're still playing everywhere. From the indieWIRE:BOT™, Top Ten Indies of the Weekend, weekend ending May 27, 2003:

Matthew Barney's "The Cremaster Cycle" played on 5 screens, opening up in San Francisco, Berkeley and Chicago, while continuing its spectacular run at the NuArt in Los Angeles. The Palm Pictures release, which is at number three on this week's chart, grossed a total of $47,839 for a $9,568 average. "These are some of the most challenging and subversive films to be commercially released in recent memory, and it's incredibly rewarding to see them doing so well," Ryan Werner, head of theatrical distribution at Palm Pictures told indieWIRE. The film reigned as the top exclusive in L.A., bringing in $24,795, up 34% from the previous weekend's tinsel town take. The film has totaled $124,485 since its New York debut 5 weeks ago. Next week, "Cremaster" moves to the Arclight in Hollywood.

[Jon Abbey]

bluenoter, if I see one of them, it'll be 3, despite it being ridiculously long. that's the consensus choice as the best of the 5 everywhere I've read. I can't say it's too high on my priority list though, there's just something that puts me off about the whole Barney phenomenon. it's also not like they're Bela Tarr movies, there will be plenty of chances to see them again, even if I skip them this time around.

[bluenoter]

there will be plenty of chances to see them again, even if I skip them this time around.

I guess so. I was spared the hype; a friend of mine who's doing related photo research told me about the Cremasters two days ago, and yesterday, we saw #4 and #5.

I've heard that #3 is the most central, and it's the most recent (2002, I think). I hope to catch it, but I fully expect to walk in and out of the theater during the three hours that it's on. My friend, who also liked #4 and loved #5, would like to catch #3 too but can't go.

[Clay Fink]

We went to see 1, 2 and 3 last Saturday. We also caught the Gugenheim exebition a couple of weeks ago. It's wonderful, weird and fascinating stuff. Some of the artifacts shown in the museum reminded me of Duchamp in a way. The films themselves remind me a little of "Eraserhead", but only vaguely. 3 was long but I found it completely engrossing. 1 is a Busby Berkley takeoff filmed at a football filed in Boisie with two Goodyear blimps in attendence. 2 is an exploration of Gary Gilmore and stars Norman Mailer as Harry Houdini. We're going to see 4 and 5 on Thursday.

For anyone in the DC area this is an excuse to check out the new American Film Institute Silver Theater. They have restored the old 30's vintage Silver Theater in downtown Silver Spring. It's wonderful. Get out and support it. We're real lucky since it's only 5 minutes from our front door, but it is a short walk from the Silver Spring metro stop. Pete C: you should make a point to check it out when you are in town.

[bluenoter]

At last, others who've seen Cremasters! As I mentioned, I saw #4 and #5, and I think I'm going to see #3 at the Sunday afternoon showing. And if I'm not worn out, I might try to get back into the theater and see #5 again early that evening.

Not to quibble, but I wouldn't have said that they "restored" the Silver Theater (though I know that they would). I would have said that they "tore down the wreckage and built a large, beautiful cinema arts complex in its place."

[jazzy mary]

In the June 9th issue of "The New Yorker" there is a funny cartoon on the last page by Roz Chast re: the Cremaster exhibit at the Whitney.

[Clay Fink]

Originally posted by jazzy mary
In the June 9th issue of "The New Yorker" there is a funny cartoon on the last page by Roz Chast re: the Cremaster exhibit at the Whitney.

That was hysterically funny!

[bluenoter]

Thanks, JM! I just looked at the cartoon online, but the image of it there is so small that it's barely legible, and I was blocked from copying it. I'll take a look at the print issue.

The show is at the Guggenheim, not the Whitney, and you have one more day!

[bluenoter]

Okay, I outsmarted the blocking, but I can't get it any bigger.

[jazzy mary]

I was just thinking "Hmm, or maybe it's at the Guggenheim" I swear! Just look at the magazine on the newsatand. The cartoon is on the very last page.

[bluenoter]

Thanks, JM, I will.

Subliminal message: Cremaster 5 . . . Cremaster 5 . . . Cremaster 5 . . .

I saw two of them at the SF MOMA....can't remember which ones, they were shown in mixed order....
the one about Gary Gilmore and the one with Richard Serra in the Guggenheim....

anyway, I thought they were pretty amazing, and I went in with a lot of doubt about them, but as works of visual art, they are eerily beautiful, and filled with really haunting images and scenes.

I certainly think they're worth seeing but you have to like really weird, creepy, largely non-narrative films. (just do not try to figure out the symbolism which is either a joke or too pretentious).

[bluenoter]

Achilles--The one about Gary Gilmore is #2, and the one with Richard Serra in the Guggenheim is #3, which is actually the final one in the sequence.