Photo by Katherine Sheehan.
BY REBECCA LANG
Imagine if "Un Chien Andalou" had been shot in the era of handicams and YouTube by the generation that finds avant-garde inspiration in bathroom cabinet drug hallucinations. There might still be creepy music and eyes split open by razor blades, but the color scheme would probably reflect the Skittles rainbows and Fun Dip powders of youth. Trade Buñuel for Danny Perez, a relatively unknown filmmaker, and Salvador Dalí for breakout experimental rockers Animal Collective, and you get "ODDSAC," a "a visual album" that recently debuted at The Sundance Film Festival.
But wait. Is it jumping the gun to declare "ODDSAC" the next "Chien Andalou?" Yes. While the 53-minute-long film promises to show marshmallows eating a family and a woman suppressing oil leaking out of a wall, that doesn't mean it's going to be one for the cinema history books. The trailer promises a surplus of heavily saturated colors, dizzying angles and quirky characters that could either form some sort of cognizant whole or simply provoke a few dormant seizures.
While Animal Collective's latest album "Merriweather Post Pavilion" was declared the best album of 2009 by both Spin magazine and Pitchfork, Animal Collective's sound has taken years to reach their current level of accessibility. In the last decade, their albums have morphed from frustrated yet ingenious experimental tracks to sophisticated sample-based melodies that some would even declare "catchy." What sets them apart from their peers is their ability to change their sound while retaining their core identity, pleasing hard-core fans throughout every phase. Nonetheless, "ODDSAC" was filmed over the last four years, and those who only became converts to their sound due to their last LP might not be fully onboard for the dive into their vast well of weird.
For now, how about some guesses about what ODDSAC could stand for?
The film will be screened at the Cedar Cultural Center on Saturday, Mar. 20, at an event featuring the director and members of Animal Collective. Doors open at 8:45 p.m. and tickets are $15.
The Cedar
