I should have known as soon as Andrew Cross was described as a “bit of a Trainspotter” that his two films about music and space would be, for lack of a better word, glacially slow.

PuSh Festival

Film Review

Title: “The Solo” and “Ensemble”

Director: Andrew Cross

Runtime: 30 mins/ 32 mins

Reviewed By Alex Hutt

I should have known as soon as Andrew Cross was described as a “bit of a Trainspotter” that his two films about music and space would be, for lack of a better word, glacially slow. Granted, if you know of his minimalist approach, then this is somewhat expected; still it does not make for a completely entertaining or educating experience.

Bringing with him two films respectively named “Ensemble” (this was the worldwide premiere) and “The Solo”, Cross somehow found a way to make two interesting subjects stunningly un-engaging. “Ensemble” focuses on Robert John Godfrey, founder of the cult English band “The Enid,” who have defied genre identification since the 70’s, which is a commendable feat. Sometimes the best musicians don’t fit nicely into genre, as another English musician, Patrick Wolf, can exemplify.  But rather than single out the more complex facets of what makes up “The Enid,” Cross instead decides to zoom in on the restrained, less compelling elements. Such examples include having a single, static camera on Godfrey only as the band members practice for the upcoming show with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. This could be a plus, but Godfrey is not very demonstrative in his movements. In addition, one of the other members’ backside occasionally peeks onto the screen during this all, which is quite distracting. The fact that one person’s blurred back draws more attention than what the central focus should be speaks for itself. While the concert footage notably uses several cameras, it still chooses to highlight the less enticing bits; for example, the bass player Jason Ducker has several long moments where he is the only one in the shot, and he is the member with the least personality. There is usable subject matter to be mined here, it just isn’t recognized as such. A perfect example of this is when Godfrey espouses “I’m a big Jesus fan, but I don’t believe that he was the son of God.” This statement is left at the wayside, quickly glanced over and forgotten when it would have been something that I’m sure the audience would have loved to hear Godfrey expand on. “Ensemble” does however, make one want to hear more of the Enid’s music, which is fascinating.

The second film “The Solo” featured Carl Palmer, drummer of the trio Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Cross takes the notion of the 70’s drum solo and stretches it to a 30 minute film that is made up of 5 different drum solos (that Palmer wrote for the film), each building in size and grandeur. It was mesmerizing to see Palmer build a structured and complete song from different drums, and the frantic nature in which he attacks the drum set. Cross uses considerably more camera angles and positions to highlight Palmer’s innate skills, but it still fails to grasp the whole of the audience’s attention. This is because it doesn’t speak to the technical side of drums or explain why it exists on the screen; rather, Cross just presents it and says “here’s a 30 minute drum solo.”

These two films are okay if you are a hard core music geek (which I do subscribe too) but even so, you will feel a little like you are wasting your time. Otherwise, “The Solo” and “Ensemble” are skippable.

Written by :

alessandro