Cremaster 3 (2002)

Director:

Matthew Barney

Writer:

Matthew Barney

Release Date:

25 May 2003 (Iceland)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The third film of a five-part art-installation epic -- it's part-zombie movie, part-gangster film.

Plot Keywords:

Racetrack | Third Part | Manhattan New York City | Bar | Surrealism

Cast

Richard Serra	...	Hiram Abiff
Matthew Barney	...	The Entered Apprentice
Aimee Mullins	...	The Entered Novitiate / Oonagh MacCumhail
Paul Brady	...	Cloud Club Maitre D'
Terry Gillespie	...	Cloud Club Barman
Mike Bocchetti	...	Grand Master
David Edward Campbell	...	Grand Master
James Pantoleon	...	Grand Master
Jim Tooey	...	Grand Master
Nesrin Karanouh	...	Gary Gilmore
Peter Donald Badalamenti II	...	Fionn MacCumhail (as Peter D. Badalamenti)
The Mighty Biggs	...	Fingal
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Heather Coker	...	Dancer
James Drescher	...	Lead Singer - Murphy's Law
Todd Christian Hunter	...	Mason (as Todd Hunter)
Joseph P. McDonnell	...	Master Mason
Roger Miret	...	Lead Singer - Agnostic Front
Courtney Patton	...	Principal dancer
Alexandra Sawyier	...	Dancer
Tara Stiles	...	Principal Dancer
Sofie Zamchick	...	Baby Giant (singing voice)
Fast Ali	...	Mosher (uncredited)

Directed by
Matthew Barney

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Matthew Barney

Produced by
Matthew Barney	....	producer
Barbara Gladstone	....	producer
Chelsea Romersa	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Jonathan Bepler

Cinematography by
Peter Strietmann

Film Editing by
Matthew Barney
Christopher Seguine
Peter Strietmann

Production Design by
Hal McFeely III
Matthew D. Ryle

Art Direction by
James David Goldmark

Costume Design by
Linda LaBelle

Makeup Department
Gabriel Bartalos	....	special makeup effects artist (as Gabe Bartalos)
Regina Harris	....	makeup artist
Clayton Martinez	....	makeup effects technician

Production Management
Jessica Frost	....	production supervisor
Kristin Schattenfield	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tony Gerber	....	assistant director: Guggenheim Museum sequence

Sound Department
Dave Paterson	....	sound designer
Jay Peck	....	foley artist
Matt Rocker	....	sound editor
Wharton Tiers	....	production sound mixer

Special Effects by
Craig J. McIntyre	....	special effects makeup
Rorie D. van Klaveren	....	special effects assistant

Visual Effects by
Luis Cataldi	....	digital effects artist
YouJin Choung	....	digital compositor
Perry Harovas	....	animator
Adam Martinez	....	CG supervisor
Dan McNamara	....	compositing supervisor
JaeWook Park	....	digital compositor
Kevin Romond	....	visual effects technical director
Matt Wallin	....	visual effects supervisor (as Matthew Wallin)
Keith Yurevitz	....	digital intermediate operator

Camera and Electrical Department
Sandor Temlock	....	camera operator

Production Companies

• Glacier Field LLC

Distributors

• Celluloid Dreams (2005) (France) (theatrical)
• Cinequanon (2006) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (2004) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Glacier Field LLC
• Palm Pictures (video)

Special Effects

• Mantron

Runtime:

182 min | UK:179 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hungary:14 | Australia:M | UK:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Chrysler Building - 405 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Glacier Field LLC

Goofs:

Continuity: After the teeth have begun to exit the Apprentice's prolapsed intestine, there is an overhead shot of the hitmen standing around the Apprentice on the dentist's chair. The view of the intestine is slightly blocked by the back of one of the hitmen, but as he shifts from side to side, the teeth are nowhere to be seen.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Creamistress 6: 'The Centered Polenta' (2003) (V)

A visual trip running high on energy; low on payoff

I could ramble on and on using art history and criticism metaphors to describe how banal and unappealing Barney's weirdness is. Suffice it to say that this "epic" has no beginning, story or conclusion leading to anything other than a visual mess of wackiness and graphic silliness from one scene to the next all set to some of the worst, absurdly incoherent, and bad music in cinema. The Cremester Cycle seems to be Barney's attempt to meld David Lynch, Terry Gilliam and Busby Berkeley in some kind of nightmarish world, yet the whole mess comes across as pretentious and self-serving to both Matthew Barney and the Gladstone Gallery. Art house trendies and a lot of contemporary art museum curators may enjoy this endless string of images (which are really better displayed in museums as movie stills instead of the plotless, pointless film Cremester is), but I thought it was a waste of time.