Drawing Restraint 9 (2005)

57% of critics liked it
(47 reviews)
68% of users liked it
(2,624 ratings)

Filmmaker and artist Matthew Barney collaborated with his wife, noted musician Björk, for this ambitious experimental feature. Aboard a Japanese fishing vessel named the Nisshin Maru, a crew of laborers constructs "the Field," a sculptural mold in the shape of an oval that is filled with melted… More Filmmaker and artist Matthew Barney collaborated with his wife, noted musician Björk, for this ambitious experimental feature. Aboard a Japanese fishing vessel named the Nisshin Maru, a crew of laborers constructs "the Field," a sculptural mold in the shape of an oval that is filled with melted petroleum jelly. As the crew slaves over the project, a man and woman (played by Barney and Björk) are brought on board, and while the ship sets sail the couple prepare to be married in a traditional Japanese ceremony. As the pair are about to be wed, the captain of the Nisshin Maru (Susil Osoma) relates the history of his ship to them. That night, a massive storm at sea disturbs "the Field," and the petroleum jelly floods the room where the newlyweds are staying, forcing them to tear away their outer shells and reveal the animals which lurk within in order to survive. Drawing Restraint 9 was one of Matthew Barney's first major works after completing his widely acclaimed five-film series The Cremaster Cycle. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 23 min.
Directed By: Matthew Barney
Genres: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Special Interest

In Theaters: Mar 29, 2005 Wide
Studio: IFC Films

Critic Reviews

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press
Drawing Restraint 9 belongs to an endangered species of experimental film that walks the line between challenging and alienating its audience.
Bob Townsend, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sitting through the film's tedious unfolding can be an interesting mental exercise.
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe
Like John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy, a surreal, vaguely plausible explanation of why two people are crazy about each other.
Philip Kennicott, Washington Post
Doesn't advance the Barney oeuvre an inch past where he left it with his massive, megalomaniacal opus known as the Cremaster series.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Moby ick.
Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
Allegedly all these incidents connect symbolically in Barney's mind, but in the viewer's, they thud, inert and separate as stones.
Anton Bitel, Film4
A work as vast, monstrous, and mysteriously graceful as a whale.
Robert W. Butler, Kansas City Star
Conventional storytelling may not be Barney's thing, but he has a superb cinematic eye, an incredible imagination and the wherewithal to make his visions happen.
David Noh, Film Journal International
However enigmatic this all might be, there is no denying that Barney has assembled some rivetingly beautiful images.
Thomas Delapa, Boulder Weekly
Offers no restraint on the writer/director's penchant for weird esoterica.
Marty Mapes, Movie Habit
A refreshing break from mind-numbing Hollywood movies, but it may fail to win you over
Leo Goldsmith, Not Coming to a Theater Near You
What is undeniable is that this, even more than Barney's previous work, is a film of outrageous, startling ingenuity and beauty.
Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
It is a series of lyrical ambiguities filtered through the prism of Japanese religious and whaling cultures that defy literal interpretation even as they are sculpted into physical significance.
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
Throughout, Barney drowns the screen in arresting images ... that nail your eyes to the screen.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
Hugely tedious...this turgid, opaque, whale-obsessed fiasco might be described as one big, festering hunk of blubber.
Brian Orndorf, FilmJerk.com
Drawing Restraint 9 is Barney again creating something tenaciously abstract, but this time the result is more serene and approachable.
Marc Mohan, Oregonian
You're either on the boat or off the boat with something like this. But for those willing to brave the open water, it's an awe-inspiring ride.

Read all 17 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Austen R

Matthew Barney, I command thee: Relinquish the distribution rights to this film and deliver them unto The Criterion Collection & Janus Films! (YEAH!!, I know it's fine art, and that would devalue the price of the DVD's out there. STFU!) Okay, Drawing Restraint 9 is… More
Matthew Barney, I command thee: Relinquish the distribution rights to this film and deliver them unto The Criterion Collection & Janus Films! (YEAH!!, I know it's fine art, and that would devalue the price of the DVD's out there. STFU!) Okay, Drawing Restraint 9 is what Cronenberg's Stereo/Crimes Of The Future should have been. This is honestly one of the most ambitious and beautifully made films ever made. I cannot put into to words how gloriously minimalist this movie is, yet how grand its imagery is. It's a paradox of a visual experience. That being said, this film is 95% imagery and atmosphere with maybe 7 minutes of dialogue. It's quite effective, and doesn't get annoying like Cronenberg's earliest efforts did. (Matthew Barney was actually open to having some spoken lines in the movie!) What's said is superficial, though. The importance is in what is communicated through the scenery and score. The movie is built around the ethical dilemma inherent in whaling, but most of this is established in the visual happenings throughout the early portions of the film. The half-half is focused on a Shinto tea ceremony attended by Matthew Barney and Björk's characters. It's plot is Kafka-esque... if the viewer is Kafka's archytypal main character. (Basically, that's my clumsy way of saying that the viewer doesn't know what's going on but the characters in the movie do. The intended audience of this film should slowly be able to piece together the themes and narrative as the film progresses.) ...Then it transcends the most cringe-inducing body horror film ever!! I'm absolutely stumbling through this review, since the movie simply has to be seen. I loved it, but text can't do it justice. Um, there really were no technical flaws; come to think of it. Maybe it's not a likable film, but it's as perfect and unique as a cinema experience gets. (At the very least, check out the fantastic score. There's a great song performed by Bonnie "Prince" Billie in the opening scene.)