Bodysong

Director: Simon Pummell
Studio: Eclectic DVD Dist.
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Unless you've been hanging out on the art-house circuit, Bodysong is unlike most any movie you've seen before. Not exactly a documentary, and certainly not a scientific undertaking, this wordless collage of moving pictures and music tells the story of human life from the womb to the tomb, but that barely begins to characterize a work that effectively defies description. In his first feature effort, director Simon Pummell (an appropriate name, considering the relentless onslaught of images he presents) has assembled a huge array of film clips of various origins, ages (some are up to 100 years old, but few are recent), and quality (lots of black & white, many home movies, and plenty of obscure, grainy footage of unknown provenance) showing people doing what they do: being conceived, then born, and then growing up, eating, having sex, worshiping, senselessly killing one another, creating, living, dying. It's not always easy on the eyes; the extended sequence of newborns emerging from their mothers' wombs is an astonishing piece of filmmaking, lurid, graphic (as is a good deal of this uncensored film), definitely not for the squeamish, but wonderfully joyful as well. The score, by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, is often quite effective, although its dissonant and bathetic elements tend to grate upon prolonged exposure. But then, that's no doubt the point. Bodysong, which Pummell also developed as a website and a gallery installation, is clearly not intended to make anyone feel comfortable. --Sam Graham
Description
Extraordinary movie...a powerful and prodigious achievement, Jonny Greenwood's (Radiohead) soundtrack is a stirring, ambient backdrop - Dave Stubbs, Uncut. Bodysong is the story of our lives told through moving images across the world and spanning 100 years of cinema, cut to an ambitious score by Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead). DVD features an exclusive Jonny Greenwood interview, interview with director Simon Pummell, and complete Bodysong website. Winner "Best Documentary Feature" British Independent Film Awards.

Average customer rating:

body song

so beautiful

surprisingly coherent

Buy this for your TV and the CD for your car

Bodysong
Director: Simon Pummell
Manufacturer: Eclectic DVD Dist.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0009CTUXW
Release Date: 2005-07-12

Amazon.com

Unless you've been hanging out on the art-house circuit, Bodysong is unlike most any movie you've seen before. Not exactly a documentary, and certainly not a scientific undertaking, this wordless collage of moving pictures and music tells the story of human life from the womb to the tomb, but that barely begins to characterize a work that effectively defies description. In his first feature effort, director Simon Pummell (an appropriate name, considering the relentless onslaught of images he presents) has assembled a huge array of film clips of various origins, ages (some are up to 100 years old, but few are recent), and quality (lots of black & white, many home movies, and plenty of obscure, grainy footage of unknown provenance) showing people doing what they do: being conceived, then born, and then growing up, eating, having sex, worshiping, senselessly killing one another, creating, living, dying. It's not always easy on the eyes; the extended sequence of newborns emerging from their mothers' wombs is an astonishing piece of filmmaking, lurid, graphic (as is a good deal of this uncensored film), definitely not for the squeamish, but wonderfully joyful as well. The score, by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, is often quite effective, although its dissonant and bathetic elements tend to grate upon prolonged exposure. But then, that's no doubt the point. Bodysong, which Pummell also developed as a website and a gallery installation, is clearly not intended to make anyone feel comfortable. --Sam Graham

Description

Extraordinary movie...a powerful and prodigious achievement, Jonny Greenwood's (Radiohead) soundtrack is a stirring, ambient backdrop - Dave Stubbs, Uncut. Bodysong is the story of our lives told through moving images across the world and spanning 100 years of cinema, cut to an ambitious score by Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead). DVD features an exclusive Jonny Greenwood interview, interview with director Simon Pummell, and complete Bodysong website. Winner "Best Documentary Feature" British Independent Film Awards.

Customer Reviews:

body song.......2006-03-23

It is an awesome project nothing like any other. It has a impressive compilation of images that have so much in common but at the same time have nothing to do with each other that makes these film an impressive film. The combination between music and images is absolutely impressive; it is a good film to have...

so beautiful.......2006-01-11

a film so raw, so perfect, so beautiful, with a message and nature so pure. a film of this kind can only be made once.

surprisingly coherent.......2005-07-29

I am a Radiohead fan, so I bought this disc for the audio (the DVD audio is longer than the released soundtrack) and was expecting cheesy boring random newsreel archive images, but actually, the film was very emotionally affecting and interesting. The footage is truly multicultural, which brought into glaring contrast how one-sided movies and TV shows really are.

The vast majority of the images were things I'd never seen before -- this is definitely not your average recognizable newsreel highlights montage (e.g. a man who seems to light paper on fire with his bare hands, a burning pyre with a small child's foot protruding). The images are organized roughly by life stage. The DVD classes the images into these categories:

birth
growth
sex
violence
death
dreams (sport, art, religion, political resistance)

There is no "dialogue" until the end of the film and when it comes, it is almost a shock. The CD soundtrack is a more coherent whole, but the DVD audio makes more sense in the context of the images.

I totoally expected to hate this movie, but I'm almost tempted to call it a perfect summary of humanity. It's not, but it comes pretty close. Well done.

Buy this for your TV and the CD for your car.......2005-07-13

Magnificent combination of visuals and audio. A must have! Enough said.