Home » Jazz Articles » Film Review » Instant Composers Pool Orchestra: A Film by Guy Girard

214

Instant Composers Pool Orchestra: A Film by Guy Girard

By

Sign in to view read count
ICP Orchestra
A Film by Guy Girard
La Huit
2006



For this film, Guy Girard recorded the ICP Orchestra's performance at Noisy-Le-Sac in France in 2003. Much like the nonet's anarchic free improvisational music, the visual document moves from orderly to chaotic without warning. Psychedelic and kaleidoscopic, the film sets out to investigate the metamorphoses of the concert.

The film starts with Dutch drummer and co-founder of ICP, Han Bennink, putting on his blue bandana while the other musicians tune up. By using low angle shots exclusively on Bennink, Girard distinguishes the percussionist from his colleagues as a key member of the band. Occasionally, Girard also finds pianist and co-founder Misha Mengelberg in some quirky camera angles, but it's obvious that for Girard, Bennink is the star of the show. This exclusive focus makes problematic any analysis of group dynamics and of the personalities of individual musicians.

The camera constantly pans the dim, hollow cave of a venue, never settling on one face for too long and often focusing on the instruments instead of the musicians that wield them. Nevertheless, Girard manages to catch Bennink in some great moments. For example, there is one shot of him tapping out a rhythm with a pair of paintbrushes. His head turned aside, his eyes closed and his mouth slightly agape, he begins to smile as he realizes he is onto something: as the shot makes clear, the beat is his own and complements the melody well. But there are also shots of Bennink that are shaky and grainy, making the viewer feel like a small child trying to push through a crowd of musicians to get a good look at the drummer.

The film tries to translate ICP Orchestra's music from its instrumental form to a visual medium using distorting mirrors and electronic contortions. Girard screens the film onto a distorted mirror and then synchronizes the distortions with the music, creating swirling, liquid images that are surreal and radical like the music itself. As the recording goes on, the images, though remaining distorted, become more fluid.

At times, Girard's distortions of visual imagery extend to the sound. When the music is at its most dissonant, he adds a second sonic dimension to the music, giving the notes an ethereal echo. But why distort the music when the visual element is already being tampered with? The audio "enhancements" seem superfluous and add nothing to the film viewer's experience.

Also, the spectator is likely to become nauseous as the camera shifts abruptly from point to point. Moreover, Girard inserts normal, distortionless shots, sandwiching them between the blurry, distorted images, further disorienting the viewer and contributing to the feeling of seasickness.

Overall, the music is much too unpredictable for Girard, who would have been well advised to let it speak on its own terms. By the end of the film, the distorting mirrors cannot catch up with or properly interpret the true nature of the ICP Orchestra's volatile compositions. As a result, the music largely gets lost in the translation from sound to video.

Given the challenge of filming music, let alone sounds as unpredictable, free and complex as those recorded on this DVD, perhaps Girard deserves at least limited credit for his accomplishment: at the end of the day the film's mystifying shots and striking images are probably as close as one can get to visualizing the ICP Orchestra's music.

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.
View events near New York City
Jazz Near New York City
Events Guide | Venue Guide | Local Businesses | More...

More

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.