Stumbled on this today, not sure what to think. It's SUPER political, but the ending is intriguing.

http://youtu.be/Il1ukumC9bs

Wow! That short film should be turned into a full length film! Very well written, even though I didnt agree with the message.

Frankly, I don't see anything political about it, nor do I see much of a "message". It's not claiming that the artist who makes violent art is responsible for what people who see it do. It's just exploring the link between artist, violent art, and disturbed people who are inspired by it. Anytime some crazy is responsible for some sensationalized violent crime and a piece of violent art is linked to it, the moralizing bullshit from the media and ordinary people is bound to be grueling for the artist. And I'm sure guilt is often a part of the complex medley of emotions they experience.

But yeah, I think the film handled that complex emotional affect really well and I do wish it was longer.

Am I the only one that thought it sucked?

The whole point of the film seemed to be "maybe music effects people, maybe it doesn't" without proving anything either way nor asking anything new. This debate has been going on for decades, and this film added nothing to said debate.

Nope, that was dumb as shit.

Yea, i think the only thing it does is provide an example that shows the artist as a human and not as a deadly, immoral, brainwashing monster that wants your children to rape their peers. I'd totally watch a feature length version though.

I got the same thing out of it. I thought it portrayed black metal musicians as people who can be anything really. That guy had a kid and a wife and seemed to be pretty successful. (He wasn't exactly living in a trashy house) I think the main focus is when his daughter asks if he helped that guy and he goes silent. I don't understand that though.

Not bad. The ending scene was pretty good, the music wasn't great and the scene in the petrol station could have been better. The audio wasn't mixed very well, either - but the cinematography wasn't bad. I enjoyed it, I liked that it just posed the question and didn't pretend to have an answer, it was good.

Possibly to show that he's human and perhaps feels some guilt over what happened.

They should have used Varg Vikernes to play the main guy

Nope, I thought it was garbage as well. At only 9 minutes it still barely held my interest, and I found it pretty run of the mill.

Looks like a fuckload of ass OP

The only thing I could give them credit for is that they're taking so called "metal" to the masses through various media. But apart from that, the story line is so...simplistic. Maybe like I said, the "masses" would find it interesting because it is possibly touching on taboo subjects but I thought it was lifeless and it left me pretty stupid at the end of it >_>

I liked it, but it's nothing fantastic. Like others have said, it did a good job of making the musician an actual person with more at stake in the situation than his art. The fact that he only lashes out when the dude attacks him as a father is a nice touch. While it may seem a bit preachy to people who actually listen to metal to suggest that he would feel conflicted about his role in murder, I think it's a pretty believable reaction for someone in his position.

I liked it but it is hardly groundbreaking.
Kenneth Anger length? (saying so much and not saying anything) Why not make it longer?

I'm gonna puke. It starts off with 2 minutes of uninspired black metal, then cuts into some reality TV show esq thing. I had my fill of garbage when it got to the part where the guy was like "who the fuck stabs someone 15 times?" Oh my god. Hugging his girlfriend because he's sad about someone's death, and getting beat up by an obnoxious fat guy at the grocery store, just for starting a fist fight because someone said something about his band? Then that little girl shows up and he has a talk with her. Give me a fucking break. It's like a bad reality TV show. As a black metal fan, this doesn't offer me anything, and I don't think a non-black metal fan should see this either. This is insipid and a little bit pitiful. I think it would make some people think that black metal is actually as stupid as this movie if they made this a feature length presentation as a film festival.

Well, that was 8 minutes of my life I'll never get back. In all honesty I get the point trying to be made with the short film, and it is actually a relevant point in that it tries to show that there are real people behind the masks put out when you're in a band. On the other hand the acting/script/pacing/dialogues are so so bad, there isn't a shred of anything to be found there. No emotion, no "meaning", none of it is convincing.

As a long time movie/TV series buff I almost feel insulted. As a metal fan I feel pretty much the need to incur in a blasting facepalm. What is it that this gives in the end to anyone watching? Pretty much nothing, or on the other hand if you're like me it gives you a fucking headache because of the blasting facepalm.

A nice little attempt at making an indie shortie with a different look on the BM scene and the controversy some parts of the world seem to have on metal and its supposed ideology. Nothing groundbreaking, but something unusual in any case. However...

metaldiscussor666 wins the True Metal Scene Award [TM] for his obvious belief in the fact that black metal musicians live, or at least should live, in castles without any friends or relatives, sleep in coffins in crypts filled with desiccated corpses, don't have any kind of positive feelings whatsoever, and spend their lives either feeling the cold winds in their bones in the woods while wearing corpse paint, or perfecting the satanic art in a studio in a dungeon...

Maybe the story wasn't perfect, and perhaps the acting and directing wasn't the best possible, but your reasoning seems to be based on the idea that the people behind the music are what the image of BM tries to paint them to be. Which is childish. I'd bet that 95% of the BM artist in the above 25 age bracket who have a girlfriend occasionally profess romantic love to her, wish to have kids, actually manage to raise them better than most white trash, care about stuff outside their artistic image, and pay attention to things that, you know, concern them. Believe what you want about them, but I'd say they are mostly normal people when they aren't on the stage, with the exception of the NSBM crowd, of course, because people with below-room-temperature (Celsius) IQs don't count. The image of the genre does not equal the character of the people behind the masks, and that was the message of this flick. You don't like that? Fine. But if it makes you puke, you're either delusional, or have a gastro-mental psychosomatic defect.

It's not that I don't appreciate that metal musicians are real people. I just feel like watching that video was like watching some bad reality TV show.

Please, do not take what I say and twist it just to make me look bad for no good reason.

To me black metal is about theatrics, and this was an unnecessary portrayal of a pitiful story of a black metal musician.

Dude, it was an indie short film. To be honest, I think there have been enough Headbanger's Journeys and Metal Evolutions reeking of fanboyism, and certainly enough of negative portrayals of the scene. I can kinda see your point, if you buy completely into the image, as I explained above, but metal is not a religion or politics that needs protection or isolation, and I don't personally like the idea of painting a simple, somehow "correct" image of the music and musicians. Thus, even though it was not a masterpiece, it certainly was a rare and welcome diversion from the standard fare. Also, I believe you'll see the point of the scene with the little girl when/if you ever have kids of your own.

If you indeed wish to keep your black metal codified and standardized, with strict definitions on theatrics, image, and ideology, it will turn stale and ossified, and you might just as as well start watching Japanese Noh plays. That has changed very little in 500 years, I think, so it might suit your puristic views. And they even have black-and-white masks.

Theatrics? Oh god. You obviously don't listen to a lot of black metal. While theatrics are a small role in it, it's not the only thing black metal is about. I mean, I shouldn't even have to type this.

I feel like I'm just being attacked because something said was wrong. I don't want any of that, please.

You don't want to discuss metal and its image? OK.

Bygones! I'm outta here.

I guess I misunderstood. If you just want my opinion, that's fine. Regarding the film, you can already see what I think. Though, regarding the scene itself? I never really cared much about what goes on behind the scenes. To me the whole point is to listen to the music, and getting involved with a band's personal business doesn't concern me. I think people took what I said about it seeming like a bad reality TV show a little bit to complexly. I'd say napero, you were over thinking it, if you'd let me say that. I was simply making a critique based off what I thought about the film.

This is kind of an after though. That would be really something if black metal artists really DID live the way napero described though, come to think of it. There's nothing wrong with just imagining based off how the music sounds.

I understand completely. You want to keep your mental image of the true black metal music and its grim artists pure and dark, and any portrayal of them as real and feeling persons is infringing on your right to maintain that fantasy. And that's why you feel violated and hurt.

I'd bet some good money that this is one of the things the makers of this film actually wanted to achieve....

Napero: confirmed troll

metaldiscussor666: Seriously? Please elaborate in the most exact way that you possibly can.

Napero definitely caught me off guard, but it's really funny looking back on that entire conversation.

This affirms that black metal musicians can't take personal criticism. This is how the convenience store scene would occur in real life if I played black metal:


Fat Guy: BLAH BLAH BLAH YOUR KID PROBABLY KILLED THESE PEOPLE

Rabidmadman: Sir, I do not appreciate your tone. I am a hard working and upstanding citizen of the United States. I pay my taxes and have a day job. I raised my child to have a solid judo-christian moral foundation. Please understand that this is simply aesthetics and my message is strictly fantasy.

(Rabidmadman leaves (with twinky in hand))



In all seriousness, I liked the video minus the convenience store scene. Not all musicians are GG Allin.

Shoulder-throw the Devil in the name of Jesus?

There's a missing vowel there..maybe I should edit it.

Pretty much this.

So black metal musicians have to take their craft so seriously it then spills over into real life?

Do you think at all?

Good little clip that shows the life of a metal musicians. Of course instead of doing something like "Kid kills person because of band" they could have done something more realistic.

Too bad it wasn't this band he was in. It would be pretty funny.

Behemoth is a great example of this type of thing. Nergal dresses up quite elaborately while on stage, but as we've seen off-stage, he appears normal and rather plain looking with a girlfriend and a college degree, etc. Perhaps even a kid coming down the line, but I have no idea though. I'm sure most black metal musicians are actually rather normal in every day life. They just happened to be inspired to lash out against certain things they see and feel are wrong in modern society, such as I don't know... how rampant Christianity is around the world perhaps. Their way of doing that is through black metal.

The message of this film is rather simple, but not something that is valueless. Although, it would have been nice if they actually delved a little more deeply into the issue of art/violent art and actions being taken, that are allegedly inspired/encouraged from said art. The other key moment is when his daughter asks him if he helped and he paused to think about it, because he wasn't entirely sure that he actually didn't help to inspire that violent act. Did he physically go and help? Obviously no. But did he help indirectly? Who knows.... I don't know. He didn't either, so he didn't know how to answer.

No, that's Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth.

I'm sorry, but seriously? Insulted? You can't be as much of a "buff" as you make out you are if a short film of this quality is enough to offend you. It isn't perfect, but I've seen a shit-ton worse win awards and get aired at a number of festivals. The direction wasn't bad, pacing was alright - to me the weakest part was the scene in the servo and the audio mix, but again, I've seen much worse. I personally don't think it deserve the amount of shit you are giving it.

Notice on my wording how I say "almost insulted", keyword being almost.

I have to say that I grow more and more picky with cinema/TV works with the passing of age, and I can tell you that I've grown to loathe much of this present decade's works on both. Call me old fashioned but I still prefer the classic sci-fi/horror/drama/whatever movies I grew up with and I can't find any of that magic, or barely any of it, in today's works. The more I look at the state of the movie/series enterprise the more I notice that they're extremely oriented towards certain markets or audiences, and many times the endgame is more important than the actual development. If you read my whole post you'll notice how I say that I understand what the point was behind that short film and what was trying to be achieved in the end, but honestly speaking the result is just as bad as the mainstream bullshit. The message is valid as I said before, but it comes out as a force fed stigma to be able to portray something that common sense will have already told you that is the actual reality. You know, people aren't supernatural beings and are just faulty human beings whose actions incur in consequences. Do I really need a short film with terrible acting and as much drama and emotion as a boulder canyon to tell me something I already know? Black metal is used as the theme to portray the passing of the message but in reality anything else could be used. I can recommend a German movie called "Die Welle" or "The Wave" in its international naming that portrays the formation of a national-socialist group in a high school just because a teacher decided to do an experiment in a class. Now that's a great independent work that has good acting/pacing/drama/script.

To sum it up, bad movies be them long or short just make my skin crawl because everyone nowadays can have access to all the technology and resources needed to make a good one. Instead they just keep putting out shit that 30-40 years old movies would grind to dust with the opening credits. So, am I being too critic with an eight minute short movie? Probably. But that doesn't magically turn it into a good piece of cinematic work.

Really? I've seen my fair share of black metal bands and I can safely say theatrics is a pretty large chunk of the show. It's pretty prevalent among many bands.

It would be unrealistic to expect an elaborate story from such a short film. It was OK for what it was. I definitely think there could be a story to tell there and I'd rather a film leaves me wanting more than getting bored.

I also think people here are probably focusing too much on the Black Metal aspect. It could have been about any medium. They only brushed the topic and as it is, this short film is a drama. Trying to determine whether it was "portraying the scene accurately" would be missing the point because this is only only a tiny bit more about Black Metal than Magnolia is about Magnolias.

It is cool that they picked a subgenre of metal to frame this short and I definitely think by fleshing the personal story and the scene more, it could have been an interesting film but as it is, it's fairly limited.

No. It's astonishing to me how many people in this site alone can take what I say so completely and utterly wrong. The main character in this show doesn't need to be 'black metal', but the way he appears in this show, he's a complete fucking imbecile. He punched a fat guy at some discount grocery store for giving him a hard time. I'll have my opinions, and you can have yours. Just make sure you can decipher what is an an opinion next time you single out someone to make a stupid response. I'm sick of it.