Montreal Premiere

Free screening at 8:00 PM at the Imperial

"I envision the path like a digestive system that cycles back on itself, like a person with his head up his ass, or a snake biting its tail." - Matthew Barney

Described as a "slow-motion cyclone" by Jerry Saltz in the Village Voice, DRAWING RESTRAINT 9 is a solemn but never static film that takes the viewer on a fascinating journey aboard a Japanese whaling vessel. Barney and his co-star Björk, who also provides the evocative soundtrack, are nameless Occidentals who arrive on separate boats to be united on the controversial whaler Nisshin Maru. The guests undergo elaborate costume fittings in preparation for a tea ceremony. Traditional Japanese dress and ritualised formalities are refracted through Barney's very hermetic and personal vision, which imbues every object, gesture and setting with the frozen timelessness of sculpture. The result is a work of often spellbinding visual poetry. At the core of the film is a vast sculpture made of liquid Vaseline, which is moulded, poured and reformed on the deck of the ship during the course of the film. Steeped in seafaring lore, Shinto rituals and the artist's idiosyncratic symbology, this almost wordless, stately film builds to a stunning operatic climax of flensing, transfiguration and rebirth.