Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell
Matt Wolf:
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell (USA, 2008)
71 min. - English
K-13
Wild Combination, directed by Matt Wolf, is a portrait of Arthur Russell, a genre-breaking artist who died of AIDS in 1992. Although his musical career was quite short, Russell accomplished amazing things as an avant-garde composer, singer-songwriter, cellist and disco producer. A very few musicians have as varied and, above all, as eclectic resume as the eccentric Russell. Experimenting with new roles didn’t create dissonance but contributed to the harmonious masterpiece that was Arthur Russell.
If Russell’s music sounds extraordinarily unique, so does his life story. The multitalented man managed to combine avant-garde and pop music in the manner the American indie of the past decade has desperately attempted. Leaning towards Buddhism and openly gay, the genre-breaking Russell was accepted equally on the dance floor of Studio 54 and in the introverted art circles of New York. Russell collaborated with names like Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg, but it was eventually his perfectionist and eccentric personality that blocked his career. Russell created a musical utopia, but left the rest of the world outside his vision.
Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of Arthur Russell before. Only a few have acquainted themselves with the man breaking the barriers before Matt Wolf’s inspiring documentary. We promise, however, that after seeing this film, you’ll yearn to hear the appealing and otherworldly music of the genius.
See also:
» Petri Hakkarainen: Helsinki Twilight 1984
» Stefan Berg: Ola Svensson Superstar
» CĂ©dric Dupire, Gaspard Kuentz: We Don't Care About Music Anyway
» Petri Hakkarainen: Helsinki Twilight 1984
» Stefan Berg: Ola Svensson Superstar
» CĂ©dric Dupire, Gaspard Kuentz: We Don't Care About Music Anyway
Fri 19th Nov at 8:15pm at Tapio 3
