What do you get when you combine the top silent movie accompaniment, Alloy Orchestra, with a top-ten historic theater, The Landmark Oriental, and the newly restored Fritz Lang masterpiece, Metropolis?
Tears, euphoria, and two standing ovations.
Roger Ebert describes Alloy Orchestra as, "The best in the world at accompanying silent films." After hearing them perform their ear-shattering, soul-shaking, heart-wrenching (okay, okay, enough already) score live I think Ebert was being diplomatic. They're even better than that.
I listened to the raving fanaticism in the lobby afterward on Tuesday when I saw it, and again last night when I came out of a different film. They were talking about it as if they'd gleaned an indelible memory. Some were speechless, milling about like drugged penguins on an ice floe. They had so much to say to each other but lacked the words to communicate it properly.
That this was an event was clear to me before it happened. I was ready to fly to Berlin this year when the festival over there debuted the movie with the footage which was found in Argentina. I knew that was something significant, and the story was intriguing. That which was thought to have been lost forever had been found. Now we could see the film in the completeness which the director had fought for.
Honestly, I would have to see it again to appreciate what was added. I like that they filled in the unrecoverable frames with text describing the circumstances which we'd have seen on film. I also like that they didn't worry about changing the aspect ratio for the added footage. They simply left the black space when it didn't quite fill the frame. That was barely noticeable.
I can say that I didn't feel like I was watching a film for 2.5 hours when it was over. Although we surely could have used a break during those two intermissions within the film, the film's continuity kept us enthralled until the end.
I was so glad to see the film again on a big screen, and to see the incredible cinematography and vision of Lang again. So many films were derivative of this one. The cityscape was copied by movies like Blade Runner and The Fifth Element for sure.
But the message of the film is as resonant today as it was then, with the circumstances of our economy having separated the rich and poor by a divide which rivals that which existed during the time when this film was created. We all ought to learn from that which this film is trying to say.
Alloy really was incredible to witness do their thing. They certainly resembled their name with their score for this film. They used more industrial, metal sounding effects and more powerfully evocative music than the original score provided. There's no comparison, even though I liked the original score.
I will never forget the experience. It will be something that I can tell people I was part of for the rest of my life.
http://www.alloyorchestra.com/
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