Search - National :: Skin a Night + the Virginia Ep

This really was a waste of my time

Denise H | Los Angeles, CA | 05/29/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I really love The National which is why i sat through this video. This disjointed amature film is irredeemable. Seriously this is what I imagine art school hell is like. At the very end of it I thought we would get to see the national perform "about today" which is 80% true. Vincent Price decided to start filming them on stage, then decides to take an illuminating walk to backstage where the real grit is happening i.e. the caterers are cleaning up. A REAL CINEMA VERITE. Look at the cover artwork for this dvd. NOW IMAGINE IT FOR ONE HOUR AND A HALF. Hynotic? Interesting? Gritty? Compelling? the answer is no. At some point I watched it on doublespeed which was not that different than single speed.This film makes matt berringer out to be a sad proto-alcoholic. I am pretty sure that's his wife in the background who helped him write two songs off of boxer but she isn't mentioned. I mean I'm sure writing and creating an album is kind of dull, this film makes the process unwatchable. You learn nothing from this film. The beginning of this film starts out with matt complaining that the director has a lot of "power" over his subjects, which I am pretty sure any reality television star tells his director but then it's edited out of any Real Wives of Orange County because that point is probably too TRITE for even them."

A Perfect Companion to Boxer.

Marcos F. Hernandez | Chicago, Illinois | 05/18/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Vincent Moon's impressionistic take on the making of Boxer is less a documentary about the National than it is an intimate look into the process of making music. Anybody familiar with the techniques Moon uses in his "Concerts A Emporter" series will be glad to see his natural gifts on display here. While Moon's relationship with the band does help us get to know the individuals better, his main purpose is to provide remarkable insights into the relationships these guys have with their songs. Emphasizing the music as the main character, Moon reveals the immensity of experiences that can be found within a few notes magically strung together.



Providing further insight into the creative process, The Virginia EP collects nearly all of the b-sides and demos (a rare extended version of "Brainy" is missing), as well as select live recordings from this fruitful period for the National. Songs like "Santa Clara", "Tall Saint", and "Forever After Days" show that even the tossed-aside material from Boxer is staggering. Meanwhile, the lighthearted "Blank Slate" and "Slow Show" demo illustrate the ways in which the songs change, grow, and find identities of their own. The EP tells a story of creative exploration parallel to "A Skin, A Night" that reveals even more about the band and their journey from studio to stage.



"A Skin, A Night/The Virginia EP" is a perfect companion to the intricately detailed beauty of Boxer that I would highly recommend to any fan of the National."

From the perspective of a fan of The National

Jesse | Atlanta, GA | 05/22/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I am definitely not alone when I say that I'm "into" The National. They are very unique; their music is hard to describe, as is the slow and steady nature of their popularity. It is this mysterious quality about the band that made me so excited about this film. I wanted a look at the people who made the great album that is "Boxer". I wanted a peek into certain things that many fans like myself tend to desire to see: the process of the songwriting and the history and stages of the songs I've come to love, the creative methods and ideas that were utilized during recording, as well as the dynamics of the band-for example, the ratio of creative input amongst its members, or the personal relationships between band members. I thought of finally seeing these things first hand, and I was thrilled, but honestly this film disappointed me.



I do not blame the band in disappointing me with this film. Call me blindly loyal to The National, but the fact of the matter is that they did not create this film - Vincent Moon did. And what about it disappoints me?



I feel that any documentary about a band has a certain responsibility to the fans of the music. Obviously the director has the right to create whatever film he wants to create, but people aren't watching A Skin, A Night because Vincent Moon filmed it. They are watching for the same reason I am watching, and that is to receive the pleasure of learning more about the band and the album that we love. Instead, Moon gives us what I believe to be a somewhat self-indulgent, abstract film that consists of dull "artsy" shots from a gritty camera, sprinkled with enough valuable clips of the band to keep me watching, but that ultimately leave me dissatisfied and simply pissed off.



If you are a fan of the band, I honestly don't suggest picking this up because it will most likely do little more than making you hate Vincent Moon.



As far as the good aspects of the film go, it does offer a glimpse at early versions of songs and the stages that the songs took. And although the valuable moments (band members talking about their music, their feelings about the creative process, etc.) are less than plentiful, they are still interesting enough to make me feel like I didn't totally waste my money. Odds are that, if you are a fan of The National, you are to some extent more than just a casual fan, and you will probably pick this up regardless of my review. Just don't expect what I did, which was a film that is mindful of the fans of the music, rather than one that is mostly concerned with itself.



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