Body Song
2003
Simon Pummell's majestically ambitious work culls images from over 100 years of archived footage, in order to encompass the whole of human experience in his representation of the life process. Incorporating film and digital mediums, and black and white and colour photography, the film is accompanied by a remarkable score by .. Read more
| Director | Simon Pummell |
|---|---|
| Genres | Documentary |
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Body Song
Simon Pummell's majestically ambitious work culls images from over 100 years of archived footage, in order to encompass the whole of human experience in his representation of the life process. Incorporating film and digital mediums, and black and white and colour photography, the film is accompanied by a remarkable score by Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood. Pummell selected images that he imagined would remain profoundly resonant even 500 years hence, depicting stages of life that humans experience universally. Arranged according to the cycle of life and development, the images are organised according to birth, growth and play, sexual discovery, nourishment, war, death, and transcendence. This stringing-together of cultural archetypes weaves a kind of updated mythology, reflecting a humanistic belief in the interconnection of all humankind. Inspiring and visually astounding, the filmmakers manage to touch upon a multitude of fundamental, existential questions with their far-reaching, all-encompassing narrative. BODYSONG was the recipient of the Best Documentary Feature Award at the British Independent Film Awards.
| Director | Simon Pummell |
|---|---|
| Studio | BFI VIDEO |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 18 mins Blu-ray: 1 hr 18 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Documentary |
| Language | DVD: English Blu-ray: English |
| Released | DVD: not available Blu-ray: not available Production year: 2003 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (2)
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"...A beautiful, hypnotic experience...with a beautiful score by Jonny Greenwood..."
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"...Extraordinary movie...a powerful and prodigious achievement..."
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Most helpful member's review
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6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
Ambitious but flawed piece of film
Simon Pummell goes for the big one in 'Body Song', nothing less than the story of life, from conception to death and covering the whole range of human experience in between. To do this he has assembled an wide range of archive footage from newsreels, films, documentaries and home movies and pieced it together to a percussive score by Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood.
It's a laudable attempt to document human life, but ultimately it's a better idea on paper than in practice. The novelty value of the project holds the viewer's interest in the early part of the film where conception is shown in magnified images accompanied by the artful score. This works well, but the rest of the film doesn't.
Soon we are watching babies being born in all their wet and bloody intensity. Now, I'm not particularly squeamish but after seeing so many births in extreme close-up and extreme slow-motion, I felt it was time to move on. Pummell, however, thinks we need to see it again and again. That's the main fault of the film, too much footage we've seen before and it quickly becomes repetetive.
We then move onto childhood, adolescence, sex(including a number of hardcore shots), famine, war, old age and death. There is some startling footage here, but most of it is too familiar and lazily chosen and too often the film feels loose and the links tenuous. Tedium quickly sets in and the film seems seems to be slowly dragging to it's climax.
But then something happens, in a stroke of genius Pummell introduces the human voice into the mix for the first time and elevates the film to a new level. This final section of the film deals with communication and people who dream of making the world a better place. It makes for a powerful climax which is worth waiting for.
Unfortunately this admirable experiment falls apart due to Pummell's unfocused assembly of over-familiar footage. A film that should have been moving, provocative and profound, becomes little more than an object of mild curiosity. -
Most recent members' review
View all -
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
Ambitious but flawed piece of film
Simon Pummell goes for the big one in 'Body Song', nothing less than the story of life, from conception to death and covering the whole range of human experience in between. To do this he has assembled an wide range of archive footage from newsreels, films, documentaries and home movies and pieced it together to a percussive score by Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood.
It's a laudable attempt to document human life, but ultimately it's a better idea on paper than in practice. The novelty value of the project holds the viewer's interest in the early part of the film where conception is shown in magnified images accompanied by the artful score. This works well, but the rest of the film doesn't.
Soon we are watching babies being born in all their wet and bloody intensity. Now, I'm not particularly squeamish but after seeing so many births in extreme close-up and extreme slow-motion, I felt it was time to move on. Pummell, however, thinks we need to see it again and again. That's the main fault of the film, too much footage we've seen before and it quickly becomes repetetive.
We then move onto childhood, adolescence, sex(including a number of hardcore shots), famine, war, old age and death. There is some startling footage here, but most of it is too familiar and lazily chosen and too often the film feels loose and the links tenuous. Tedium quickly sets in and the film seems seems to be slowly dragging to it's climax.
But then something happens, in a stroke of genius Pummell introduces the human voice into the mix for the first time and elevates the film to a new level. This final section of the film deals with communication and people who dream of making the world a better place. It makes for a powerful climax which is worth waiting for.
Unfortunately this admirable experiment falls apart due to Pummell's unfocused assembly of over-familiar footage. A film that should have been moving, provocative and profound, becomes little more than an object of mild curiosity. -
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Body Song - BLU-RAY Version
The story of human life told through a montage of film clips covering a variety of aspects (birth, war, sex, marriage etc.). The film is set to a soundtrack by Johnny Greenwood (one-time member of Radiohead)....
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Body Song
Simon Pummell's majestically ambitious work culls images from over 100 years of archived footage, in order to encompass the whole of human experience in his representation of the life process. Incorporating film and digital mediums, and black and white and colour photography, the film is ...
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