Until the Light Takes Us
Aaron Aites & Audrey Ewell:
Until the Light Takes Us (USA, 2008)
93 min. - English
K-18
Last year’s Rokumentti featured several documentaries dealing with a fascinating topic, the emergence of black metal. Until the Light Takes Us, a thorough documentary by Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell, returns to this topic once more ending the discussion started last year. The documentary tells about the phenomenon that shook the Nordic countries in the voice of its creators. This is the voice of the figureheads of black metal and the musicians responsible for the crime waves connected to it. Aites and Ewell have succeeded in their interviews: their interviewees ponder their part in church burnings and the ideology behind the phenomenon with admirable openness. The long and personal interview with Varg Vikernes reveals the background of black metal especially well.
Until the Light Takes Us brings musicians from e.g. Immortal, Burzum, Empror and Darkthrone to the screen. The directors let them tell their own version of the course of events in the early 1990s that led to the birth of this dark subculture of metal music. The film is probably the most profound review of black metal and the ideologies behind it to this date.
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AARON AITES & AUDREY EWELL
Aaron Aites is the singer/songwriter behind the band Iran, whose third full length album was released by Narnack Records in early February 2009. Audrey Ewell Co-Produced the 2001 comedy A Sign from God. She art directs album covers, including the new Iran album. Their visual/video art collaborations have shown in Europe, America and Japan. This is their first feature length film.
