Sweet Mulleted Jesus, Arcade Fire documentary out on Monday.

jill_valentine

http://www.nme.com/news/arcade-fire/41609

Arcade Fire to release 'Miroir Noir' documentary on Monday (Dec 15)

Fans will be able to watch the 70-minute film online

Arcade Fire will release their new 70-minute documentary, 'Miroir Noir', on Monday (December 15).

The film documents the band through the making of their 2007 album 'Neon Bible' and subsequent tours. It also includes short films made on the road by the band.

The documentary is directed by Arcade Fire and Vincent Morisset, who was also responsible for the interactive video for 'Neon Bible'.

The deluxe edition DVD of 'Miroir Noir' features bonus material including Arcade Fire performances on TV shows such as Friday Night With Jonathan Ross and Saturday Night Live.

Both the digital and deluxe versions of the documentary will be available to order from Miroir-noir.com on December 15 (with the digital version delivered instantly).

Filmed by Vincent Moon, the guy who did this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-5XK-2Ufd4

You can check out the trailer at:
http://miroir-noir.com/

They're like some sort of giant sweaty seven-headed indie Santa, and I've never been so giddy about a bloody Monday before.

EDIT: It suddenly occurs to me that the wording of the title makes it look like this is going to be called Sweet Mulleted Jesus. But to be honest, I sort of like that idea, so I'm okay with that.

Dudess

jill_valentine wrote: »

It suddenly occurs to me that the wording of the title makes it look like this is going to be called Sweet Mulleted Jesus. But to be honest, I sort of like that idea, so I'm okay with that.

Agreed. It also looks like two bands are bringing out a documentary: Sweet Mulleted Jesus and Arcade Fire. I for one would welcome a band named after the divine one with a taste for bad 70s/80s haircuts...
Thanks for the links Jill.

jill_valentine

I dunno. Neon Bible, Mulleted Jesus, there is a kind of logic to it.

Oh, for the want of an exclamation mark...

Zaph

Saw other blogotheque clips done by Vincent Moon on the streets of Paris with Vampire Weekend. I like his style.

jill_valentine

He did the National documentary too, which is kind of slow, but looks great at least.

He kind of got the ball rolling with Arcade Fire, so it's sort of nice that he's still with them. Supposedly, the whole Takeaway Show thing started after he turned up at a show without a ticket and Richard snuck him in. After the show, the band wandered out of the venue playing down the street, and he brought the idea from there.

Anyway, the story is, you pre-order the DVD on Monday and you can download the main 70 minute film right away. Your fancy DVD arrives sometime in 2009. Think it's a shame I won't be able to to paw it like a creepy freak in time for Christmas, but still, rather nifty that they managed to keep it more or less under wraps right until the last minute.

Out of interest, David Byrne let the cat out of the bag a while ago, they've started work on album #3.

jill_valentine

Oh, and lest anybody missed it, the interactive Neon Bible video by Vincent Morrisset mentioned in the original article:

http://www.beonlineb.com/click_around.html

Zaph

jill_valentine wrote: »

Out of interest, David Byrne let the cat out of the bag a while ago, they've started work on album #3.

Is David Byrne going to be working with them? That's something that I love to see, Talking Heads are my all-time favourite band.

jill_valentine

No, he's just kind of a friend of theirs. They're a cagey bunch, so they started work on #3 nice and quietly only for Byrne to let it slip on his own blog, that that's what they were at when he met them last.

He showed up on stage with them once though, to play Naive Melody.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u50KlJxCWpg

ShoulderChip

woot

woot

woot

jill_valentine

God, I wish they'd hurry up.

Damn Canada, and it's easygoing laidback internet style.

jill_valentine

First impressions, having skipped though this a bit:

Not to go all spoilery or anything, but there's a tiny little bit of Win singing Ocean of Noise to Régine that is absolutely f**king gorgeous. That then turns into a rather amusing Win and Tim ballroom dance thing...



Fairweather Arcade Fire fans might be surprised to see what they actually look like when they're not touring.

Basically, it doesn't offer a whole lot of insight into the workings of the actual people or the actual documentary sequence of last years tour. Now, last years tour had a substantial amount of drama, so in that regard, I think that's a shame. What it does do is chart the evolution of songs from the early stages to what they sound like when we hear them, and what it takes to do that.

And the glimpses of the band between shows are a genuinely weird little window into a bunch of guys and girls who's job it is to act like it comes naturally. It's really odd to see Régine f*cking Chassagne quietly freaking out just before going on stage for instance. She's Régine f*cking Chassagne. There's a few other moments like that - Win & Régine apparently on the edge of an argument with each other over the end of No Cars Go is another - but they're only really there for illustrative purposes and you don't go away feeling like you know those people better or anything. It's not "Check this out, this is Win and Régine being really f***ing tense! It's like The Hills up here, man!", it's just there as kind of an example of the more annoying part of the daily grind that it takes to actually get the song finished.


But nobody expected Win & Régine's The Sweet Life. Instead, I do think it gives a good sense of what it's actually like to be in that kind of band. From where I'm standing, anyway, the actual process to the product is kind of hypnotic. It's weird to see what it takes for these guys and girls, who we pay to look like they were born to be onstage, to actually get the job done without going mental in the meantime. For instance, there's a shot of Richard on his own in a room that reminds me of the crazy polar bear in the zoo. I'd love to know what's going on in his head, but really, it doesn't matter - one way or the other he still has to go on stage, because that's part of the deal.

Instead, there's lots of silent shots of cities punctuated by shots of bandmembers gliding by on bumper cars, etc. If you go in thinking Arcade Fire are a bunch of pretentious ****, this will probably confirm all your worst suspicions. If you know better, it's a clever arty little film about what it's actually like to be in a band like that. I don't think it would ever stand on it's own as a film but it does what it sets out to do.

If you've seen the full 15 minute Takeaway Show, you basically know what to expect. There's no central narrative, and it's not Dig! -but damn, it's a pretty brilliant visual companion to the whole Arcade Fire deal.

Unexpected, and basically exactly what I expected, all at the same time.

Dudess

I'm jealous of Régine. That is all.

jill_valentine

Watched it again, and I love it to bits, but really, if you're not a big fan of this music or this band, there's nothing for you here. I can imagine a lot of people finding it aimless and weird. And you'll either love or you'll hate the phonecalls.

The opening sequence is stunning, and honestly, I don't think the rest of it can quite live up to it. It's too disjointed, and whenever they touch on something really interesting, they fail to explore it in any depth before they move on to something else. For instance, there's a f**king immense montage around 49 minutes in, of American gameshows and Televangelists and youtube clips, that then moves into Win having a crowd treat him quite unsettlingly and un-ironically like a Messiah himself - but having drawn the comparison, it doesn't really do anything with it. It just moves on to the next scene.

Like I say, it doesn't go into the actual band relationship much - I can't recall anybody even saying anybody else's name the whole way through - but there's one Win & Régine moment towards the end which is so cute I practically yelled "Aw!" I think it's the only time when Win clearly doesn't care that the camera's on him, but I'm not gonna spoil it.

I loved it a lot, but I don't think the $40 Deluxe edition will be entirely justified for everybody. I'm a sucker for that stuff, so I don't regret stretching to it, it's just that my rational mind screamed in protest the whole way through the purchasing process.

It's audience isn't going to be huge. Me, and weirdos like me, but it's a beautiful film with a lot of great moments and some genuinely striking imagery.

Just go in looking for a film by the band, rather than about them.

Incidentally, there's a kind of moody electro instrumental version of The Well & The Lighthouse at the end that's insanely beautiful. In no way what I expected from Arcade Fire - it's more like UNKLE or something - but it's brilliant. Makes me very excited about #3...

Kold

This only available for download/order? Wouldn't mind it as a present from one of the siblings.

jill_valentine

You can order the DVD now, and get the download as part of the deal, but the DVD won't be shipped until March, m'afraid.

Be aware it works out like ten dollars cheaper if you order it directly from Merge, but the shipping will take longer and you can't specify the download's quality.

$13.99 for digital download only

$15.99 for DVD only

$29.99 deluxe, which looks like this:

jill_valentine

Arcade Fire Karaoke!



Crummy quality but still very, very sweet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdyntkz6Seo