Until the Light Takes Us
| Until The Light Takes Us | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Aaron Aites & Audrey Ewell |
| Produced by | Audrey Ewell & Aaron Aites |
| Distributed by | Variance Films |
Release date | December 4, 2009 |
Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | Template:FilmUS |
| Language | English |
Until The Light Takes Us is a 2009 feature documentary about Norwegian black metal, from directors Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell. The film features interviews with the originators of black metal, including Varg Vikernes who is interviewed in prison, where he was incarcerated for killing a bandmate. The film attempts to unravel the truth behind the church burnings and murders committed by a group of young musicians the media called "Satanists", but who, in reality, had far different motives. The film focuses mainly on the events surrounding the genesis, rise, and continuation of the genre and the people that created it.
Originally scheduled for release November 20, 2009,[1] it premiered in the U.S. on December 4, 2009.[2]
Featured Interviews
- Gylve "Fenriz" Nagell (Musician, Darkthrone, Isengard, Storm )
- Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes (Musician, Burzum, Mayhem)
- Jan Axel “Hellhammer” Blomberg (Musician, Mayhem,)
- Olve "Abbath" Eikemo (Musician, Immortal)
- Harald "Demonaz" Nævdal (Musician, Immortal)
- Bjarne Melgaard (Visual artist)
- Kristoffer "Garm" Rygg (Musician, Ulver, Arcturus)
- Kjetil "Frost" Haraldstad (Musician, Satyricon, Gorgoroth, 1349, Keep of Kalessin)
Reception
The film received a 59 percent rating at the film-critic aggregate site Metacritic and a 50 percent ratings at the film-critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.[2] Andrew O'Hehir of Salon Magazine called the film "crafty and compelling" [3], Nick Pinkerton of The Village Voice said, "The filmmakers seem cowed into obeisance by their subjects. Varg's last onscreen appearance is accompanied by a montage fitting a schoolyard crush, and the film's title is the translation of Burzum's fourth album, Hvis lyset tar oss. ... [the film] "arrives a decade too late to add much."[4] Mike Hale of The New York Times said the "absorbing, low-key documentary ... illustrates the Norwegian context — cold and dark, liberal but ultra-conformist, increasingly globalized — in which these diffident, smart, polite young men came to feel alienated and racially and culturally oppressed."[5]
Release
Variance Films acquired the theatrical rights to the film in the U.S., and released it in New York City on December 4, 2009.[2] The film grossed $7,246 on a single screen its first week, the second highest per-screen gross of any debuting film (behind Up In The Air).
Footnotes
- ^ Until the Light Takes Us press notes, VarianceFilms.com
- ^ a b c Until the Light Takes Us at Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ O'Hehir, Andrew k. "Sympathy for the Devil Worshippers", Salon.com, December 1, 2009
- ^ Pinkerton, Nick. "Until the Light Takes Us: A Norwegian Black Metal Documentary", The Village Voice, December 1, 2009
- ^ Hale, Mike. "Until the Light Takes Us (2008): The Music of Church Burning", The New York Times, December 4, 2009