Until the Light Takes Us
Mark’s Review:
I had high hopes after seeing the preview for Until the Light Takes Us. Unfortunately, the movie seemed to be a bit too awkward and disjointed to really resonate, and I felt there was more to be told with the story. The film loosely follows the divergent paths of Varg “Count Grishnackh” Vikernes and Gylve “Fenriz” Nagell, two Black Metal pioneers with different agendas for the genre. It takes a while, but near the end, we understand that the goal of Black Metal in Norway was always meant to be more of a sociological movement than a “scene”. It was never meant to attack people, but rather attack and challenge authority and societal norms, but this message and it’s delivery in the movie is very soft. Along the way we see lots of beautiful shots of Scandinavia, but learn little about the music and it’s growth.
The thing is, most people seeing this movie will be fans of Black Metal, so they will have the basic historical knowledge of the events that led to its infamy in the early 90’s. So seeing this movie really adds nothing for them. There is too much focus on these events and not enough connecting them to the music, or explaining the atmosphere that all of this was made possible. I feel that there was a lot that was left unsaid, and the sudden jump from “creating a new underground movement” to “burning churches and murdering homosexuals” left me saying, “OK, I know that, but why?” Anyone watching this movie without this background knowledge will be confused and will probably fall back to blaming the usual heavy-metal stereotypes. There’s no narrative to the movie, and this becomes a problem when we are subjected to some rambling manifestos of people using English as a second language. It’s not their fault, but in trying to get their point across to the viewer, they stumble for the right terms quite a bit. In the end, I wanted to know more about Vikernes, a fascinating character that I’m not sure is a genius or insane.
Overall Until the Light Takes Us was a disappointment. Directors/Producers Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell stylistically attempt to paint Fenriz and Vikernes as romantic leaders of a misunderstood revolution, but they come off more as metal caricatures from an episode of Metalocalypse (especially Frost from Satyricon, who looks like a fool wearing makeup and walking around in the dark). Anyone who’s looking to learn more about Black Metal’s rise and fall is probably better off reading Lords of Chaos or even see the bonus material for Sam Dunn’s Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey.
Mark’s Rating:
King says: “Ummm… nice makeup?”
Justin’s Review:
If Black Metal is a rebellion against Death Metal, then Until the Light Takes Us could easily be considered the Black Metal equivalent to the modern metal documentary. Lo-Fi, often aimless, yet at times… strangely compelling. Unfortunately, much like the genre it’s trying to uncover, Until the Light Takes Us gets lost in its own gratuitousness.
Now I certainly wasn’t expecting to walk into another rehashing of Black Metal’s most famous cultural documentation, but based solely off the trailer and an interesting article (care of the Onion’s A/V Club), I was excited to see what directors Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell had came up with. From the looks of things… candid interviews with two of BM’s progenitors, a smattering of historical footage, and in the director’s own words:
Not specifically the evolution of black metal, but the re-creation and re-contextualization of media and art and everything in modern culture. We’re really interested in a lot of postmodern theory and ideas, and we see a lot of parallels with black metal and the story of black metal.”
As promising as that sounds, UtLTU ultimately ends up combining fascinating interviews (Varg and Fenriz), with sophomoric commentary (Abbath and Hellhammer), idiotic “happenings” (Frost and supposed “visual artist” Bjarne Melgaard), and a solid 45 minutes of shaky footage of Fenriz walking around and chain smoking. While there certainly is a story to tell, it gets lost somewhere in the shuffle. Or should I say somewheres? Where the film excels in unraveling the mysteries behind Varg and Fenriz (and their diverse perspectives on the the scene itself), it severely lacks in a focused approach. The presentation of random footage and insufficient narrative will easily confuse anyone who isn’t partial to BM’s sordid history; and those who are, will find themselves waiting for the “meat and potatoes” of the film to be served. It’s evident enough that the film tries to make the sad connection between a reactionary genre that was distorted by the media (and its own minions), and the full-blown parody that it’s become today; but it never really drives the point home for either side. While some might argue that’s the whole purpose of a documentary, I tend to prefer documentaries that have purpose to begin with. UtLTU left me unsatisfied, but not clamoring for more.
Though I applaud Aites and Ewell’s commitment to the genre and their film (they did, in fact, move to Norway for several years to shoot this footage), I can’t help but feel that by taking the “artistic” approach with metal’s most infamous scene, they fall into the exact same parody they were attempting to document.
Justin’s Rating:
King says: “Is there anything more annoying than a heavy metal music critic who demands inspired, creative and intelligent cinema? Yes… and his name is Frost.”
