I attended a screening of Until The Light Takes Us at a local film festival a couple of weekends ago, and I figured since I can't really upload any albums at the moment I would leave my thoughts about the film here. Since this film has been in the making for a few years already I'm sure most of you have heard of it, but for those who haven't Until The Light Takes Us is a documentary film about the formative years of the Norwegian black metal movement.
The film was actually much better than what I was expecting. Going into the theater I was honestly thinking this was just going to be a 'Lords of Chaos' The Movie, abound with incorrect information and an emphasis on overly sensationalized shock value. Surprisingly the film seemed incredibly genuine. The film largely follows Gylve "Fenriz" Nagell living in Oslo as he goes about a seemingly routine life in the city. He also does interviews on the formation of the Norwegian black metal scene. I got sense that as personal as music is to me, a large part of the black metal history is his life. This obvious yet elusive conclusion never struck me really until I saw the film. It was a very emotional experience to see how personal black metal is to the Darkthrone frontman and get to know his character.
The other large portion of the film featured Varg Vikernes in his lavish cell of a maximum security Norwegian prison. Vikernes also gives his take on the early Norwegian scene as he experienced it, including his notorious killing of Mayhem's Euronymous. For those curious the account he gives of the incident is about the same as he has said before. What I found more interesting is the evolution of the character of Vikernes. I admired the fact that he seemed aware that we are all emergent culminations and that he himself was constantly growing/evolving (ideologically, spiritually, ect.)
A smaller portion of the film also spotlighted Frost of Satyricon, as he participated in a solo visual piece of performance art, and Faust the former drummer of Emperor. Smaller contributing interviews were done by Hellhammer (Mayhem), Immortal, Garm (Ulver), among a couple others.
The story in general was pretty simple, of course I was quite familiar with it already, yet extremely captivating. There was honestly some pretty humerous moments as well, which is not bad (unless you're too kvlt for that sort of thing). Another element of the film I found interesting was the film's exploration of globalization's effect on Norwegian culture, and how the black metal movement was a reaction to this sudden impact of foreign influence on the isolated country. In his interview Vikernes explores this topic as well.
The artistic value of the film itself was very good for a documentary. The images captured by the excellent camera work, coupled with a diverse soundtrack of abstract music (including some black metal classics), makes the film worth seeing in and of itself. I was pleasantly surprised to recognize hearing some Boards of Canada in a few scenes.
Overall I would definitely recommend seeing this film if you are a black metal fan, or even if you are not. In the screening I attended there were quite a few people who were there because of the music, but I'd say the better half were just there because of the festival. I heard really no negative things about the film, and those who had never heard of black metal seemed genuinely captivated by the characters. I'll post the URL for the film's website at the end of this post so you can check if it is coming to a nearby city. I'm not sure when the DVD will be released so this maybe your only opportunity for quite awhile to see it. The directors also held a very informative Q&A. Please, go check out and support this film.
The film was actually much better than what I was expecting. Going into the theater I was honestly thinking this was just going to be a 'Lords of Chaos' The Movie, abound with incorrect information and an emphasis on overly sensationalized shock value. Surprisingly the film seemed incredibly genuine. The film largely follows Gylve "Fenriz" Nagell living in Oslo as he goes about a seemingly routine life in the city. He also does interviews on the formation of the Norwegian black metal scene. I got sense that as personal as music is to me, a large part of the black metal history is his life. This obvious yet elusive conclusion never struck me really until I saw the film. It was a very emotional experience to see how personal black metal is to the Darkthrone frontman and get to know his character.
The other large portion of the film featured Varg Vikernes in his lavish cell of a maximum security Norwegian prison. Vikernes also gives his take on the early Norwegian scene as he experienced it, including his notorious killing of Mayhem's Euronymous. For those curious the account he gives of the incident is about the same as he has said before. What I found more interesting is the evolution of the character of Vikernes. I admired the fact that he seemed aware that we are all emergent culminations and that he himself was constantly growing/evolving (ideologically, spiritually, ect.)
A smaller portion of the film also spotlighted Frost of Satyricon, as he participated in a solo visual piece of performance art, and Faust the former drummer of Emperor. Smaller contributing interviews were done by Hellhammer (Mayhem), Immortal, Garm (Ulver), among a couple others.
The story in general was pretty simple, of course I was quite familiar with it already, yet extremely captivating. There was honestly some pretty humerous moments as well, which is not bad (unless you're too kvlt for that sort of thing). Another element of the film I found interesting was the film's exploration of globalization's effect on Norwegian culture, and how the black metal movement was a reaction to this sudden impact of foreign influence on the isolated country. In his interview Vikernes explores this topic as well.
The artistic value of the film itself was very good for a documentary. The images captured by the excellent camera work, coupled with a diverse soundtrack of abstract music (including some black metal classics), makes the film worth seeing in and of itself. I was pleasantly surprised to recognize hearing some Boards of Canada in a few scenes.
Overall I would definitely recommend seeing this film if you are a black metal fan, or even if you are not. In the screening I attended there were quite a few people who were there because of the music, but I'd say the better half were just there because of the festival. I heard really no negative things about the film, and those who had never heard of black metal seemed genuinely captivated by the characters. I'll post the URL for the film's website at the end of this post so you can check if it is coming to a nearby city. I'm not sure when the DVD will be released so this maybe your only opportunity for quite awhile to see it. The directors also held a very informative Q&A. Please, go check out and support this film.
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