INNI (2011)

Last week I got the pleasure of going to a screening of  Vincent Morriset's film INNI (2011). A film about the Icelandic band Sigur Ros. It is mostly a concert film than a documentary as you don't get to know the band  but you get to know their music through their performance. Most of the film was shot over two days during a  concert that took place at the Alexander Place on November 20-21, 2008.

We are hardly see the concert audience in the film except through projections on the concert stage. The film provides an intimate seat by which to take in both the music and stunning visuals. The viewer is positioned right on stage with the band and given a chance to see the action from every possible angle on the stage.

Archival footage is  interspersed in between musical performances giving the viewer a break from the sensory overload that each performance is.We don't get to know much through this archival footage about the band except for the origins of the bands name. This inter-cutting of archival footage also gives the viewer a visual sense of the evolution of the band over the years since their inception over a decade ago. We see image of them playing in a very small stage in what looks to be a very small bar. We then see them in almost costume like dress on stage performing for thousands of people. I don't think that the point of this film is to get a behind the scenes look at the band, Dean DeBlois' documentary Heima (2007) provides us with that. In INNI we get to know Sigur Ros'music through this live performance. To hear them live is to know Sigur Ros. It is about the art itself in its purist form, the live concert.

The concert was originally filmed in HD. It was then transfered to 16mm and then projected and re-filmed, sometimes through glass and other found objects. Because of this distortion the concert footage seems as if it was shot in the past.  This distorting effect along with  extreme close ups of the band at odd angles and of their instruments as they perform gives the film an impressionistic look and feel.Their music has an inherent outer worldly quality to it and these effects add to this haunting mood.

Visually and musically INNI is a treat for the senses. You sit there and indulge in the sights, sounds, and haunting voice frontman Jonsi Birgisson. I distinctly recall getting goose bumps at different moments in the film. It is an all encompassing experience to watch this film. You actually feel you are at the concert and after the film was over I  really couldn't wait for them to come to Toronto.

If  you are not a fan of the band I am not sure you would enjoy this film. This film is really meant for the viewer to experience as much as to sit and watch it. But if you love a good concert, music, or a more expressionistic form of filming you will get a lot out of this film.

As far as I know INNI will only be playing TIFF Bell Lightbox for a limited run at the end of this month. Check it out if you get a chance. I don't think there will be another chance to see it on a big screen and this movie needs to be seen on the big screen.