April 10, 2010
ODDSAC screening
I think there’s a reason I’m a little afraid to watch Animal Collective music videos. So okay “Who Could Win a Rabbit” is pretty funny every so often, but just getting a glimpse at “Peacebone” unsettles me… It’s creepy, and not the same type of creepy as Aphex Twin’s “Come to Daddy” music video. There’s a “disturbing” factor involved, which is expected considering that AnCo’s music isn’t exactly easygoing all of the time (no MPP interjections allowed here). With this thought in mind, I purchased tickets to see ODDSAC somewhat nervously. I had little idea of what to expect. Did anyone really? The 30 second trailer for the movie didn’t provide much to expand on, but it turned out the movie didn’t either.
If you don’t already know, ODDSAC is a long-term visual album/movie project of Animal Collective and Danny Perez (who has done music videos for AnCo before). The idea was apparently conjured several years back whilst AnCo was on tour, which could explain why ODDSAC is dramatically different from the band’s 2009 releases. They claim it to be their most “experimental” work yet which I think I’m willing to agree with. The movie has been screened on 8 different dates so far (w/ multiple showings on some dates), and more is to come. I saw the most recent showing at the Egyptian Theatre in Seattle a little while ago. There is a release planned for the DVD this summer, but nothing concerning just the audio.
I’m not really sure what the hell these guys were thinking when they came up with the idea of this psychedelic horror film. 2009’s MPP was a leap for them, drawing in a new, larger audience, but I don’t think it made ODDSAC a safe territory to venture into. In a way, I’m also sort of glad they decided to retain their weirdness and create ODDSAC instead of continuing down the MPP/Fall Be Kind pop route (and I say this as someone who really enjoys their latest work), but it became a disappointing attempt more than a creative side-tangent. But perhaps one thing we can still admire AnCo for is their unpredictability.
Both artistically and musically, the movie begins somewhat ambitiously. The opening scene includes a little box-house in a dark field. From a window in the house, you can see dancing figures carrying lit torches or something outside. There is a girl inside the house who is looking rather unsettled and worried. Between possibly-artsy shots of the light-dancers outside and her in the house, the focus is directed towards the wall of the house. The girl is pretty interested in the battered wall, especially when it starts oozing bloody black goo which she then frantically tries to hold back, but fails as the flow becomes more and more intense. Things get messy and soon enough it seems as though the girl has stopped fighting the goo and instead is tossing it around almost with enjoyment. The music accompanying this scene is equally dramatic: layers of strange noises over a thumping ambience and somewhat-distorted low vocals. As the scene progresses, dark sounds erupt beneath the ambience that give a feeling of pounding drums (though nothing in the song actually implies clear instrumentation). These thumping echoes add an explosive and disturbed atmosphere to the goo-battle. I was actually excited by this scene, but disappointedly found that this is basically one of two parts in the movie that is aesthetically pleasing.
The canoe scene, along with the “canoe song”, is another well-recognized part of the film. Here, we see a creepy white monster thing (I honestly couldn’t recognize who was who throughout most the film— the guys from AnCo do play in it though) sailing his little canoe through what seems to be a dark cave, lit only by a light positioned on his canoe. The filming in this scene is gorgeous. The camera is never directly focused on White-Face Monster, but instead slowly reveals eerie shots of his canoe slipping along the dark waters, the white light illuminating just parts of his face. The music also does its part to add to the scene’s beauty. Not only is this the first entrance of Panda Bear’s lovely voice in the movie (are those sighs of relief I hear?), but that familiar voice is also singing to the dark melody of an acoustic guitar. What?! When was the last time we heard that in Animal Collective’s music? Beautiful song, and even quite relieving after the sea of messy noise that precedes and follows it. I had heard this song prior to the show (from a source which has now removed it), but getting to hear it along with the stunning imagery was all the more impacting.
Only about 20 minutes into ODDSAC, the artistic value of the movie begins to diminish and the entire thing goes downhill. We continue to see more unrelated scenes filled with dysfunctional creatures, each one more bizarre than the last, yet none of them seem to find any solid ground to stand on. Though there is no "meaning" directly conveyed behind the canoe scene and the goo-scene, those scenes make your mind struggle with their story and are interesting enough to invoke thoughts and ideas in the viewer/listener. Aside from those two scenes, there are only underdeveloped ideas that also float around through the film. Nothing too cohesive. There are marshmallows eating people, a vampire bleeding to death under the rays of the sun, some strange creature washing egg-like rocks in a river, and the White-Face Monster also makes another bizarre appearance at a girl’s slumber party. Most of it is incoherent, but a few of the more amusing scenes warmly invited some snickering and hushed what the fuck’s from the audience. But after carrying on through the same ideas for extended periods of time, the humor was easily lost. The musical accompaniment was no stronger, nor more interesting. Most of the music in the second half of the film is fuzzy seas of noise, a messy ambience that doesn’t actually get anywhere.
The scenes in the movie that have strong visuals and complementary audio raise interest and are worth seeing, but they are few and become overpowered by an incoherent mess. It also didn't help that the venue screening the film also had awful, awful sound and image quality. Nevertheless, it didn’t fail to attract an abundance of pretentious idiots shitting themselves over the film. Don’t get me wrong, I’m friends with plenty of AnCo fans, but just listen to some of these people talk. The guy in front of me spewed out the most illogical, babbling heap of a question during the Q&A, AnCo had no idea what he was talking about and I’m not even sure he did himself. Probably just fapping over the idea of speaking to them. I imagine they have to put up with a handful of those egotistical idiots at every show.
Thankfully there were some intelligible discussion during the Q&A. Which came first, the music or the visuals? [response below]. Where is Panda Bear? Well, he is in Lisbon and it’s sort of a long way to fly just to answer some questions. Deakin, are you back in the band now? What? I don’t see myself as ever having left the band. But please, let’s keep all questions about the film. I appreciate your concern though (lol).
So... did it blow my mind?
No.
Am I going to buy it on DVD?
No.
Am I glad I went?
Yes, as a big fan of Animal Collective, I am glad I went. (My dad on the other hand... ;)
[currently listening to: Villa Del Refugio - This Will Destroy You]