Icelandic artist and musician Ragnar Kjartansson’s often intensely durational performance-based works manifest a rare synthesis of pathos and humor. A Lot of Sorrow is both a music video and an extended concert film, in which Brooklyn-based band the National performs its three-and-a-half minute ballad “Sorrow” on repeat for six hours. The band’s music and lyrics frequently conjure notions of romantic suffering and melancholy—themes common to Kjartansson’s emotive, theatrical work. As the hours pass and fatigue sets in, the musicians subtly alter their song; the original track is always recognizable but is also shown to be elastic and expressive rather than rigid. Kjartansson is sometimes visible in the role of roadie, offering water and food to the performers throughout the concert. Multiple camera angles grant the viewer access to both the perspective of the musicians and that of the audience, as the band and the crowd feed off each other’s energy with every repetition.
Self
Icelandic artist and musician Ragnar Kjartansson’s often intensely durational performance-based works manifest a rare synthesis of pathos and humor. A Lot of Sorrow is both a music video and an extended concert film, in which Brooklyn-based band the National performs its three-and-a-half minute ballad “Sorrow” on repeat for six hours. The band’s music and lyrics frequently conjure notions of romantic suffering and melancholy—themes common to Kjartansson’s emotive, theatrical work. As the hours pass and fatigue sets in, the musicians subtly alter their song; the original track is always recognizable but is also shown to be elastic and expressive rather than rigid. Kjartansson is sometimes visible in the role of roadie, offering water and food to the performers throughout the concert. Multiple camera angles grant the viewer access to both the perspective of the musicians and that of the audience, as the band and the crowd feed off each other’s energy with every repetition.
2013-05-05
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The National performed at the New York's historic Beacon Theatre to present their 2019 album and short film project I Am Easy To Find. This concert documentary includes a complete performance of that album, as well as guest appearances from the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Julien Baker, Mina Tindle, Kate Stables and the American Contemporary Music Ensemble.
Mistaken for Strangers follows The National on its biggest tour to date. Newbie roadie Tom (lead singer Matt Berninger’s younger brother) is a heavy metal and horror movie enthusiast, and can't help but put his own spin on the experience. Inevitably, Tom’s moonlighting as an irreverent documentarian creates some drama for the band on the road. The film is a hilarious and touching look at two very different brothers, and an entertaining story of artistic aspiration.
When an only child is struck by a car and dies, the child's mother seeks vengeance against the driver in this thrilling drama. The car was driven by the wife of a company president who is having an affair. The woman's husband manages to buy silence about the incident, but the victim's mother discovers the identity of the driver. After she secures a job in the home of the company president and his philandering spouse, the woman plans to murder the couple's son when he reaches the age of her late son.
A deadly collision between a train and car lead to an unlikely bond between the train engineer and a young boy who escapes the carnage.
A nurse in the Caribbean turns to voodoo in hopes of curing her patient, a mindless woman whose husband she's fallen in love with.
A family of a father, a mother and their son is looking forward to go on vacation. On the way they experience an accident, and their lives are suddenly and unexpectedly turned upside down.
A woman who runs a bar with her older sister has her life disrupted when she has a chance meeting with an old lover.
A surreal satire about a philosophy student who takes a job as a gravedigger while suffering an existential crisis.
Simon, wrecked by a love sorrow, overflows with sadness. He literally starts to shed all the tears of his whole body. Constantly soaked head to foot, he has to face this new physical state that he’s incapable to stop. An encounter will allow him to take a step back from his pain, to point to another perception of sorrow.
16-year-old Mari, raised without a mother by a drunkard father, is put in an orphanage which she immediately, though unsuccessfully, tries to flee from. The sensitive Mari finds it hard to adapt to the coarse manners and brutal games amongst the children. Only gradually does she develop a sense for the similarly difficult fates of her fellow sufferers, who have long forgotten how to cry. She even falls in love for the first time, not with her self-appointed “protector” Tauri, but with the rough-mannered Robi.
Based on the Novel by Robert W. Chambers of New York City life among the upper-crust, Valerie West , artist/model and philosopher, undergoes much sorrow and joy, many trials and tribulations, and final triumph on her journey to become the living personification of sweet and noble womanhood.
I traveled to South Africa to find a white family living on a desolate farm. I wanted to film how they faced the new days of equality after the fall of Apartheid. But I soon lost my way both on the endless roads and in my way. Instead, the film became a story about two very different women who both experienced a tragic loss in the midst of a white community not too fond of the future.
A young couple struggling against poverty must keep their marriage a secret in order for the husband to keep his job, as his boss doesn't like to hire married men.
13-year-old Jackie and her best friend Nova do most things together. They hang out in the horse paddock, drive Epa tractors, and take drugs. At a farewell party for one of their friends, they buy some pink pills from the local dealer and mail carrier, Casper. Jackie encourages them to try the drug, which leads to disastrous consequences when Nova dies. In the aftermath, Jackie must not only cope with the loneliness and grief of losing her best friend but also deal with the guilt she feels.
When her husband's sex game goes wrong, Jessie (who is handcuffed to a bed in a remote lake house) faces warped visions, dark secrets and a dire choice.
In wake of the Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost trade, a fan comes to terms with their new reality during a journey to the sea.
After his engagement ends badly, Josh decides to take advantage of his bachelor-party plans in Ojai, California, with the few friends still willing to join him. Focused on drugs and their own hangups, his self-absorbed friends refuse to confront the elephant in the room and ask Josh how he’s feeling. As welcome and unwelcome guests stop by, Josh will attempt to find some closure over this weekend with the guys.
Sorrow Tamers is a documentary about people who have chosen to face sorrow without avoiding it or running away from it. The film is about love, change, sorrow and abandonment.
He doesn't know why he was chosen, he only knows somehow, he's returned from the grave with a mission of vengeance and justice.