Matthew Barney – No Restraint (Art/Sculpture/Special Interest)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: C Documentary: C
As a sort
of protest to whaling and who knows what else, postmodern sculpture Matthew
Barney is back with No Restraint,
producing a new in-water sculpture using Vaseline and making as many off-kilter
organic suggestions as possible. Alison
Chernick’s documentary is more conventional that the ever-bizarre The Order: From Cremaster 3 (issued on
DVD a while ago) but is ultimately not much of a better work.
Bjork
surfaces to join him in this collaboration, but it ultimately feels more like a
couple of people making a pretentious mess in the ocean (a problem if they are
being pro-environmental) that crosses a whaling vessel, some Japanese traditional
items and 45,000 pounds of petroleum jelly.
He is considered a great sculptor, but all I see is a bizarre mess with
no point. Think of it as a making-of
program at best, if you care.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is color odd, detail challenged and
mixed overall. Cleanness is consistent,
but it is nothing special. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 sound is barely stereo, decodes as monophonic-like center channel Pro
Logic and is at a lower volume than it ought to be. Extras include time lapse photography and
several interview pieces.
- Nicholas Sheffo