Cremaster 2 (1999)

77% of critics liked it
(13 reviews)
78% of users liked it
(596 ratings)

Renowned experimental artist Matthew Barney directs this lyrical, challenging work about America, mythology, and death. Believing that his grandmother had an affair with Harry Houdini (Norman Mailer), noted murderer Gary Gilmore (Barney) wanders through the afterlife -- depicted here as a… More Renowned experimental artist Matthew Barney directs this lyrical, challenging work about America, mythology, and death. Believing that his grandmother had an affair with Harry Houdini (Norman Mailer), noted murderer Gary Gilmore (Barney) wanders through the afterlife -- depicted here as a gold-colored honeycomb maze filled with two-stepping cowboys and rodeos -- hoping to find the magician. In the process, Barney constructs a personal narrative from elements and symbols of the American west. Cremaster 2 was shot on high-definition digital video and transferred to 35mm. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 19 min.
Directed By: Matthew Barney
Written By: Matthew Barney
Genres: Drama, Special Interest

In Theaters: Oct 13, 1999 Limited

Critic Reviews

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
Darkly powerful.
J. Hoberman, Village Voice
The narcotized self-satisfaction of [Cremaster 1] is, however, preferable to the narrative Cremaster 2 (1999), which, twice as long.
Ted Shen, Chicago Reader
A tantalizing melange of dreamlike riffs on the desolation of the American west, the empty poses of male ritual, and the blood lust of macho fetishism.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
It is Gilmore's story and his family history, evoked symbolically, that give Cremaster 2 a solidity and emotional depth that are missing in the earlier, more playful installments.
Ian Buckwalter, DCist
The most cohesive narrative in any of these films, following murderer Gary Gilmore (played by Barney) on his crime spree, conviction, & striking execution, juxtaposed with a Harry Houdini (played by Norman Mailer) subplot.
Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks
Barney's outlandish mise-en-scène, forever emphasizing the organic, the amorphous, the massive, the adhesive, and the fluorescent in quite literal ways, also retains those very qualities in my memory.
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
Bizarre and incomprehensible, full of imagery that's intriguing and creepy ... and this time quite sexy as well.
Anton Bitel, Movie Gazette
the 1977 execution of Gary Gilmore (played by Barney, with prosthetically reduced penis) is figured as a rodeo ride to the death
Ian Waldron-Mantgani, UK Critic
It's a little longer than Cremaster 1, and it has extra room for more confusing craziness.
Holly Willis, L.A. Weekly
Barney defiantly makes expensive avant-garde movies that proudly flaunt both their extravagance and their obscurity, and while they're salient forays into notions of history and narrative to be sure, they're also sallies of the genius Artist writ large.
Jeremy Heilman, MovieMartyr.com
Easily the most plot-driven in all of Matthew Barney's Cremaster cycle, Cremaster 2 still conveys the thematic obsessions that drive the series, and stands as one of its most accessible entries.

Read all 11 critic reviews

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Cast

Norman Mailer
as Harry Houdini
Matthew Barney
as Gary Gilmore
Anonymous
as Baby Fay La Foe

Lauren Pine
as Bessie Gilmore
Scot Ewalt
as Frank Gilmore
Patty Griffin
as Nicole Baker

See full cast

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