“River of Fundament” is craptacular (in a good way)

Every morning, when Matthew Barney showed up on the set of River of Fundament to begin that day’s shooting, he looked around at whatever bizarre army of cast, crew, and literati he had assembled, and said “I know this sounds crazy, but hear me out…”

At least, that’s how I imagine it. This three-part experimental opus from the artist who brought us The Cremaster Cycle fifteen years ago runs over five hours in total, and is one of the most insane, visionary, hubristic, obscene, sacramental, and memorable films you’ll ever come across. Writing about this movie is like dancing about architecture, as they say. But here goes anyhow:

River of Fundament is, at its heart, a tribute to Norman Mailer, the American novelist to whom all the adjectives in the paragraphs above could also apply, and who played Harry Houdini for Barney in “Cremaster 2.” A good portion of the first section of “River of Fundament” takes place in a replica of Mailer’s Brooklyn brownstone apartment, where a cross-section of New York’s literary and cultural elite has gathered to pay homage. 

The slag flows in River of Fundament.

“Look, it’s Fran Lebowitz!” “Hey, isn’t that Jonas Mekas?” “Wow, Elaine Stritch! This must have been filmed a few years ago.” Those are just some of the thoughts you may have, depending on how pretentious you are. Other names that ended up my notepad: filmmaker James Toback, author Jeffrey Eugenides, former heavyweight champion Larry Holmes, and, of course, Dick Cavett. Deborah Harry is there. Salman Rushdie is there. Anyone who’s anyone was there, surely including many others gone unrecognized by your philistine correspondent. Some sort of bingo card might be warranted at future screenings.

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