grodscorp@grods.comMIFF ‘07 film review: Hardcore Chambermusic
 | Posted by Scott on Thursday 9 August 2007, 1:31 pm Categories: MIFF '07 Tags: Tags: HardcoreChambermusic, MIFF |
Film rating: 1.5/5
Walkouts: 1/5
Pretentious clapping at credits: 1/5
BPM sighting: No
Swiss musicians Koch-Schütz-Studer turn a 30-day music marathon into a cinematic piece of chamber music.
Their album, Hardcore Chambermusic, is a music publishing phenomena that has taken Switzerland by storm. This documentary gives audiences an insight into the artists at work during an epic month of music making.
Koch-Schütz-Studer sampled and compressed hundreds of pieces of music from sources as diverse as Bartók and Berio to Public Enemy and Bob Marley in order to create something revolutionary and altogether new – hardcore chambermusic.
This documentary had heaps of potential but the fimmakers completely failed to deliver. A serious film that seemed to be crying out for a spoof — kind of like an improvised jazz version of Spinal Tap. Scenes of the jazz drummer making music with a bowl of water and his hands, or of the saxophonist making animal calls through his instrument, were both hilarious and intriguing at the same time.
The long scenes of minimalist improvised music using long, monotonous close-up shots of musical instruments were trying. However, I was quite engaged with the characters (self-indulgent but likeable) and was really keen to see how they felt at the end of their 30 day odyssey. So I sat through the overlong 80 minutes only to have the credits roll during footage of the final day’s concert without a hint of an interview with the musicians or even a reaction shot after the final note had been played!
Bloody frustrating and unsatisfying.
