Last night I went to one of the three screenings (NY, Chicago, Seattle) for “The Life of the World to Come” directed by Rian Johnson. Official description follows:
“The Mountain Goats in solo and duo performance at Pomona College. In this film by Rian Johnson (Brick, the Brothers Bloom), John Darnielle performs The Life of the World to Come on piano and guitar. Shot in the same building where, as an eight-year-old piano student and new transplant to Claremont, he performed Bach minuets for the state examiner, The Life of the World to Come takes the songs from the album and restores them to their raw original states: skin, blood, and bone. John is joined on vocals by Rachel from the Bright Mountain Choir, his original bassist, with whom he first performed as the Mountain Goats about four blocks from the building in which the film was shot. ”
Darnielle performs the album in its entirety switching from piano to guitar then back to piano to close the film and does so all in one take. Lit mostly by desk lamps and occasionally an overhead spot light, there was something really beautiful about the lighting and single camera flow as Darnielle sings out to an empty auditorium. I thought a nice touch that Johnson added on the directorial end was that he made no attempts to hide the process of shooting this (again, in one take). Ex: seeing the camera stutter as he hooks in and out of a tripod mounted on a dolly or occasionally seeing a grip running in bare feet to flip on and off some lights. It was like you were being let in on a secret.
The actual screening, held at the Chopin theatre, was a lot like the actual film; intimate and bare bones. I’m really happy I attended and could be a part of it.
Watch a clip here.
