Cremaster 3 (2002)

65% of critics liked it
(40 reviews)
83% of users liked it
(2,049 ratings)

Cremaster 3 is the final installment of the five-part epic film cycle from director and sculpture artist Matthew Barney. Encompassing a dizzying number of themes, this elaborately stylized experimental film showcases Barney's affinity for architecture and sex. Much of the highly symbolic imagery… More Cremaster 3 is the final installment of the five-part epic film cycle from director and sculpture artist Matthew Barney. Encompassing a dizzying number of themes, this elaborately stylized experimental film showcases Barney's affinity for architecture and sex. Much of the highly symbolic imagery involves Celtic mythology and phallic references, with Barney himself appearing as the Entered Apprentice and sculptor Richard Serra playing architect Hiram Abiff. Some of the settings include the Chrysler Building in New York City, the Saratoga race track, and the Guggenheim museum ( where much of Barney's work is actually shown). Spatially driven rather than narratively, the film is a display of visual effects and impulses with little to no dialogue. All five parts of the film cycle (titled out of sequence) can be seen at art galleries, though Barney has been known to give out video copies with the purchase of his sculptures. Cremaster 3 was shown in the Frontier program at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 3 hr. 2 min.
Directed By: Matthew Barney
Written By: Matthew Barney
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Special Interest

In Theaters: Apr 25, 2003 Limited
Studio: Palm Pictures

Critic Reviews

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post
Like poetry and music, it isn't so much what it means as how it means. The maze of the artist's endless, haunted hallways will keep you clueless, speechless and quite possibly sleepless, in the manner of all visionaries.
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
It is either an unparalleled opportunity to witness the work of an artist proclaimed by some the 'most important American artist of his generation.' Or an obligation to witness the work of the artist etc., etc.
Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News
Trapped in a seat while the three-hour Cremaster 3 goes on (and on), you feel more like a prisoner than a participant.
John Habich, Minneapolis Star Tribune
The hypnotic imagery and fragmentary tale explore the connections between place and personal identity.
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
The filmmaker ascends, literally, to the Olympus of the art world, but he would have done well to end this flawed, dazzling series with the raising of something other than his own cremaster.
Christine Temin, Boston Globe
Not since Ghostbusters has a film used Manhattan's architecture in such a gloriously goofy way.
Ian Buckwalter, DCist
May be the best combination of everything that Barney does best in this series: the striking visuals, a definite narrative, and enough variety to keep things interesting. The final sequence, "The Order," is as engaging as this series gets.
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.
Anton Bitel, Movie Gazette
the longest and last of 'the Cremaster Cycle' is also Barney's crowning masterpiece.
Anita Schmaltz, Metro Times (Detroit, MI)
Attempting to sum up the scope of Matthew Barney's epic in a few words is like trying to shove the history of existence through a scrotum-shaped pinhole.
Ian Waldron-Mantgani, UK Critic
The endurance test of the Cremaster series.
Phil Villarreal, Arizona Daily Star
6:30 p.m. (Upon the completion of "Cremaster V") - zzzzzz . . .
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
Extremely accomplished filmmaking that's only in need of an editor. And perhaps a coherent story.
Neil Kendricks, San Diego Union-Tribune
Personifies experimental filmmaking pushed to new extremes.

Read all 14 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Christopher B

My favourite Barney "film". I'm not a huge fan of the other ones, but this one is the first I saw. Quite memorable as a piece of art more than a "film", which I'm sure is how Barney intended.

Cast

Richard Serra
as Hiram Abiff
Matthew Barney
as The Entered Apprentice
Aimee Mullins
as The Entered Novitiate/Oonagh MacCumhail

Paul Brady
as Cloud Club Maitre D'
Terry Gillespie
as Cloud Club Barman
Mike Bocchetti
as Grand Master

See full cast

Cremaster 3 (2002)

Critic Reviews

Featured Audience Ratings

Christopher B

Cast