« Co-productions with Germany among the winners in Adana | Home | »Lauter Geschenke« – Radu Gabrea’s First Medias Central European Film Festival (MECEFF) »
Michael Nyman in Progress – a documentary by Silvia Beck
By Tanja Meding | November 14, 2011
Another subtitle for this film could be Filmmaker in Progress: from the start of the documentary, we see British composer Michael Nyman ready with a camera to take pictures, whether in London, Poland or on tour throughout the world.
Probably best known around the world for his film compositions, Nyman wrote his first film score in 1967 for British filmmaker Peter Greenaway’s black & white short 5 Postcards From Capital Cities and has since contributed to many of Greenaway’s films, including the critically acclaimed 1982 feature The Draughtman’s Contract as well as The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover in 1989. His score for the Academy Award-winning The Piano by Jane Campion was nominated for a BAFTA and won the Australian Film Institute Award. He has furthermore contributed to films by Patrice Leconte, Volker Schlöndorff, Antonia Bird and many more.
Most recently, his music was featured in the 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary Man on Wire by James Marsh and you can currently hear his work in Michael Winterbottom’s latest feature The Trip.
As he notes in the documentary, he often composed the music before a single frame had been shot – when all he had to go by was the script.
In this documentary, Beck accompanies Nyman as he moves from making music for other peoples’ images to creating “experimentations with video”, as he calls it, visual diaries that he has collected over the past 15 years. So, for the first time, as Nyman puts it, the audience can hear and see the world according to Nyman.
And, suddenly, the train journey that Nyman and Beck take earlier in the film to Poland – where Nyman learns about his Jewish grandparents who could neither read nor write and we see him walking around with camera in hand – now makes sense. It all comes together when we later see Nyman’s short film about a couple of train bumpers gently moving back and forth, as if kissing and caressing one another set to his music. The simple, yet unique complexity of Nyman’s images allow a deeper insight into his music and vice versa.
However, Beck’s film does not stop here. In addition to his vast repertory of film scores, video and photography work, Nyman also continues to compose for his own band which he founded in 1976.
In short interviews with some of his musicians, we learn that Nyman’s music is extremely challenging, yet extremely engaging and gratifying to play, and his musicians claim that, although their bodies hurt when they play his music, they will always give it all they have. However, when another composer or producer asks them to play in a “Nymanesque” style, they will never push themselves as hard as they do for Nyman.
Beck, who previously trained and worked as a cinematographer, offers captivating images of London as well as some intimate performance footage. Together with Nyman’s music, the film provides an energy and pacing that keeps the film moving forward.
And just like Nyman’s music, the documentary leaves you wanting more. After Nyman and his band perform for the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, Nyman confesses on camera that this is an institution he always wanted to be accepted into. It seems as if we have only just begun.
Michael Nyman in Progress is handled internationally by Aktis Film International.
Topics: Film Reviews, International Reports | Comments Off on Michael Nyman in Progress – a documentary by Silvia Beck
Comments are closed.