The read
It runs long at 6h 11m.
Synopsis
Visionary artist Matthew Barney returns to cinema with this 3-part epic, a radical reinvention of Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings. In collaboration with composer Jonathan Bepler, Barney combines traditional modes of narrative cinema with filmed elements of performance, sculpture, and opera, reconstructing Mailer’s hypersexual story of Egyptian gods and the seven stages of reincarnation, alongside the rise and fall of the American car industry.
Ratings
IMDb6.2/10
Metacritic56/100
19 audience votes
Key crew
- Matthew BarneyDirector
- Matthew BarneyWriter
- Jonathan BeplerOriginal Music Composer
Cast
- Chief Dave Beautiful Bald EagleNorman III
- Milford GravesNorman II
- John Buffalo MailerNorman I
- Ellen BurstynHathfertiti
- Maggie GyllenhaalHathfertiti
- Madyn G. CoaklyHathfertiti
- Paul GiamattiPtah-Nem-Hotep
- Joan La BarbaraThe Widow of Norman
- Stephen PayneUsermare
- Aimee MullinsThe Ka of Norman / Isis
- Matthew BarneyThe Ka of Norman / Osiris: James Lee Byers
- Jennie KnaggsNephthys
Stills
Themes
operagoldloss of loved onepregnancyidahosurrealmusicalsurrealismcrowsculptureavant-gardemodern art