Until the Light Takes Us (2008)

Directors:

Aaron Aites
Audrey Ewell

Release Date:

20 November 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Until the Light Takes Us is a feature length documentary chronicling the history, ideology and aesthetic of Norwegian black metal...

Plot Keywords:

Black Metal | Harmony Korine | Terrorism | Modern Art | Globalization

Cast

Varg Vikernes	...	Himself
Fenriz	...	Himself
Harmony Korine	...	Unexplained
Hellhammer	...	Himself

Runtime:

USA:93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Italy

Company:

Artists Public Domain

Nothing Like What I Was Expecting

So I went to see this film tonight, this "documentary" if you will. I think the only thing good I have to say about it, is that the interviews with Varg Vikernes were really incredible. The rest of the film was nothing more than commentary from a very limited amount of the NORWEGIAN black metal scene (so few actually, I can list them all right here- Fenriz, Abbath & Demonaz from Immortal, Ulver, Frost from 1349/Satyricon, Hellhammer, and Faust from Emperor although he is supposed to be 'anonymized' with the silhouette and fake voice).

This film was only concerned with the interaction between Varg's killing, the church burnings, and started to touch base on the impact the BM scene has had on Norway in forms of other art. The soundtrack was horrible. It was 95% techno garbage. The only time the soundtrack did any good to add effect to what you were watching was a scene involving Frost, which I will get to in a moment. The rest of the film was following Fenriz around.

The film makers didn't even explain what BM is, how it started, how it's evolved, and what the BM scene is like today. The subject matter was widespread and didn't flow whatsoever with the story. If they were talking about Dead from Mayhem now, in five minutes they were talking about a Norwegian artist who is inspired by the corpse paint BM musicians wear, then going into stories about Euronymous, maybe followed by some clips of Fenriz walking around Oslo or in the woods. There was also a scene where Frost was taking part in an art exhibit in Milan, where he was breathing fire onto some art hanging on a wall, followed by him knifing up and destroying a couch, followed by him slashing his wrist (down the road, not across the street), and slitting his throat on the destroyed couch. The background score during this scene was the most effective throughout the movie, almost similar to that of what I've seen in the movie "Irreversible" during the Tenia hunt scene.

The film was very low budget, but I have seen low budget films that were far superior to that of this one. I read a review someone gave stating that this film was made by "indie hipsters exploiting the BM scene" and I agree with this. There was no effort made whatsoever to explain the main purpose of the scene: the music, and the message portrayed.

I can only hope that this film never makes it to DVD. The only reason it's getting 3 stars is because of the Varg interviews.