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Drawing Restraint 9
IFC Films


6.7

based on 20 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 13 votes
Read user comments
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FILM:

MUSIC:

Bjork: Drawing Restraint 9 OST

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Matthew Barney, Björk, Mayumi Miyata, Shiro Nomura, Tomoyuki Ogawa, and Sosui Oshima

Drawing Restraint 9, a film by Matthew Barney with a soundtrack composed by Björk, represents the first creative collaboration of two of the most protean, dynamic forces in music and fine art. (IFC Films)

GENRE(S):	Fantasy \| Sci-fi
WRITTEN BY:	Matthew Barney
DIRECTED BY:	Matthew Barney
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: March 29, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	135 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / Japan
LANGUAGE(S):	English / Japanese (with English subtitles)

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White

While the significance of the imagery, including the slow disintegration of an immense piece of sculpted petroleum, is elusive, the strangeness of Barney's visual sense never fails to stimulate the senses.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

You're either on the boat or off the boat with something like this. But for those willing to brave the open water, it's an awe-inspiring ride.

TV Guide Ken Fox

A gorgeous feature that's both passing strange and undeniably beautiful.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Conveys an intense sculptural loveliness with something moving beneath it, maybe a sense of menace. And it's leavened, like once per hour, with a teeny dash of humor. This isn't nearly as immediately likable or showy as "Cremaster 3," but in a quiet way just as spectacular.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

It's hard to shake the sense that there's less here than meets the eye, but what meets the eye burns with a rare intensity.

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Songbird Bjork and artist hubby Matthew Barney team up in Drawing Restraint 9, and the spectacular result is exactly what should be expected from these one-of-a-kind creative oddballs.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The uninitiated viewer can admire it simply for the majesty of its visual poetry.

Variety Leslie Felperin

A tapestry of sensuous, striking and sometimes disturbing imagery, Drawing Restraint 9 marks the latest cinematic visit to the wacky world of experimental artist Matthew Barney.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Ultimately, the scale of the production and the expectation built into the release don't entirely justify the effort.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

As a narrative film, it's confounding and oblique – but still gorgeous to behold.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Slow but rarely tedious.

Premiere Aaron Hillis

Looks, feels, and tastes like a more accessible evolution of "Cremaster," so try to gauge your own tolerance for indulgent eccentricity (at 135 minutes, it could stand to lose 20).

LA Weekly Holly Willis

It's difficult to see the characters as anyone but Barney and Björk, and the film's binary system, opposing hard and soft, East and West, male and female, etc., feels clumsy and simplistic. That said, there's creepy delight in seeing American consumption carried to its logical extreme.

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

Visual artist and filmmaker Matthew Barney's follow-up to his acclaimed "Cremaster" film series continues this provocateur's penchant for outrageous imagery and numbing non-narratives.

Washington Post Philip Kennicott

Sad to say, the new Matthew Barney opus, Drawing Restraint 9, made in collaboration with his main squeeze, Bjork, doesn't advance the Barney oeuvre an inch past where he left it with his massive, megalomaniacal opus known as the "Cremaster" series.

Village Voice Ed Halter

Those who fear that the mainstream of contemporary art has become little more than an extension of fashion will find no comfort in Drawing Restraint 9, Matthew Barney's latest big-budget ejaculation of ritual self-involvement and superficial foofery.

Chicago Tribune Allison Benedikt

As visually stunning as it is, "DR9" is also more than two hours and contains, at best, 10 lines of dialogue, an ear-piercing Bjork score and no discernible plot.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

Björk appears to have been a good influence on Barney: The soundtrack, which she supervised and participates in, is well worth the time for fans of experimental music. As to what the whole thing means, you're on your own.

Chicago Reader Fred Camper

The music Bjork wrote for the sound track is at least minimally accomplished, unlike Barney's staggeringly vacant direction.

San Francisco Chronicle Kenneth Baker

Anyone who puts production gloss above performance, plot, dialogue and editing may thrill to Drawing Restraint 9.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.7 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Deniz 12s gave it a4:
I have seen the exhibit accompanying this film, and overall I think it's a big joke about the art world and American culture. Matthew Barney is just pushing limits to see how far he can go and still be called an "Artist" while creating very little that can actually be called art, or even that he made himself. Little Bjork is into the crazy imagery, and a lot of this film was probably for the purpose of impressing her. There is some interesting commentary on the role of whale slaughter and worship of the sea in Japanese culture, but it is so lost beneath the ridiculousness of the rest of the project, that it's almost beside the point.

Peter G. gave it a2:
Substantial organic talent is employed to produce this tedious and narcissistic film. I like obtuse art that is intelligently presented. This movies seems like giant egos (whale sized in fact) run amuck. I wish that some of the talented struggling artists out there had access to 1/100th the money and attention lavished on Barney. That's life on the post modern frontier.

Kendra L. gave it a3:
I'm tempted to say that people who enjoy this would enjoy anything Bjork or Barney did, like throw up on stage. The images are striking, and the costuming is oddly intreguing, but I think the whole thing would have been better captured from a series of successful stills, rather than two hours of pointlessness.

Dan gave it an8:
I find images from this film haunting me. If you let yourself just experience it and not focus so much on what it is about, you will find yourself transported.

Larissa M. gave it a1:
This was the most pretentious movie I have ever seen.

Brian H. gave it a0:
just a big show, really. people seem to think its all meaningful, but it just seems superficial and boring to me, like a slowed down music video.

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Drawing Restraint 9 IFC Films

Drawing Restraint 9
IFC Films