Featured Audience Ratings

• familiar s

  
  Good enough to have kept me awake in its entirety. Apparently, more than good enough would have been more appreciated.

• Randy T

  
  Sometimes disjointed but never dull, <i>Until the Light Takes Us</i> offers an insider's point of view into the oft misunderstood culture of Norwegian Black Metal.

• Melvin W

  
  "Music. Arson. Murder. Art. Black Metal." If you think metal bands in America are extreme wait until you see and listen to the people behind the Black Metal scene in Norway. In America we have Slayer, a band who sings lyrics like, "God Hates Us All." In Norway… More
  "Music. Arson. Murder. Art. Black Metal." If you think metal bands in America are extreme wait until you see and listen to the people behind the Black Metal scene in Norway. In America we have Slayer, a band who sings lyrics like, "God Hates Us All." In Norway they have Banda like Mayhem, who take a picture of their bandmates dead body after suicide and put it on an album cover.  This documentary is really about a few members of the Black Metal scene and how they took their extreme views to new heights with the burning of churches. Now if your a fan of metal, like myself, you've already heard of these church burning and the bands involved. Like their music, these bands go way to far just to be extreme. I think I can speak for most in saying that the Black Metal music is pretty horrible. But that's not what this documentary is about. All in all it's about the extremes some of these musicians went to. For such a fascinating subject as this is, you would expect a entertaining and equally fascinating documentary. Until The Light Takes Us is anything but fascinating and entertaining. It's actually the complete opposite; it's boring. These filmmakers took a subject that you couldn't possibly believe could be boring and they did it. They didn't dive in deep enough. It didn't seem like they wanted to question these people for what they are, complete freaks. It's almost like the filmmakers are afraid of them. They could have taken a chance and really tried to get into the minds and psyche of these musicians, but they didn't. This documentary is really just a blown opportunity. Not worth the watch at all. Other documentaries have talked about it in less detail and with less time and got more out of it then this. Look at Sam Dunn's metal documentary for a better look at the Black Metal scene then this.

• _kelly .

  
  I haven't been writing much about other films because nothing has been stirring me. But I've watched this, and another film which I will surely tackle later, repeatedly, a zombie drawn to flesh, and I think it's because I'm hoping there is more material there than… More
  I haven't been writing much about other films because nothing has been stirring me. But I've watched this, and another film which I will surely tackle later, repeatedly, a zombie drawn to flesh, and I think it's because I'm hoping there is more material there than there is. As a metalhead, I know the rough story, and I have seen Sam Dunn's treatment of these incidents and probably some tv segments on it, but the only thing yet that has compelled me to do the research, or more importantly, listen to the music was this doc. Apparently, doing the research, reading interviews and journals, I listen to some of these guys' influences, but I even noticed when watching Sam Dunn's Headbanger's Journey that death metal is a big gap in my metal listening education where I haven't ticked off the canon. The third time I watched this film - in the background because I find it so generic that I've never watched exclusively the film in entirety, only in pieces, plus I've listened and watched with the entirety in the periphery about eight or nine times as of now - I was also reading Varg Vikernes' burzum.org writings, and I realized I must get some of this stuff. As Varg intends with Burzum, each album is like a spell; Mayhem is raw and back to the real roots of metal; DarkThrone performs some ingenious feats of metal composition; and I thank the film-makers for impelling me to these aural introductions. Now onto the bashing. Considering WHO these film-makers were given access to and how open most of the interviewees seemed, I think there needed to be more pressing questions for clarification in the many instances of homicide and arson being discussed. The film-makers I suppose will claim objectivity and I'm sure playing cool makes people reveal more, but there comes a point where you have to wield your power as the documentarian and uncover truths, use that whole "we're cool" relationship you've been building to find out the critical life and death information - the pieces of a documentary that make it soar in revelation, moments that this crew didn't get that were just ONE poking question beneath the surface. And this extends into their greater documentation of the feature players: They display the Dawn of the Black Hearts cover as a shocking endcap to the Dead "story" but never explain the story of that album's printing (which there are several stories but the only persistent link is that Euronymous wanted it made). The film alludes that Bard "Faust" Eithun may have killed a gay man in a hate crime but they never say that he was actually convicted of murder and served over a decade in prison; when they interview him, he appears in silhouette, without title, and voice distorted as he cryptically discusses church burnings (which on the Emperor site, his band, it declares that he went with Varg and Euronymous to burn the Holmenkollen Church the day after he committed the murder, and the film-makers let Varg talk casually about how Faust "sold him out" in jail). But to bring it around to the subject which has me coming back to this film and that film-makers too are clearly a bit too enamored with him, Varg Vikernes is totally allowed to be just Varg, unchecked, which is sad considering his paradoxical existence, one that I think is more common than rare. As Burzum, Varg has composed some sublime songs (and this I recognized in one listening, which is rare) and he clearly has a rich intellectual life. However, Varg has political views that many other people would disagree with, views that he feels his government actively oppresses and jailed him for, but added to that is the intrigue that he killed a one-time bandmate and often business partner Euronymous (he claims self-defense and has a persistent story across interviews, police interrogation, his own site posts, but part of his story is this persistent reinforcement that Euronymous had become "useless" to the scene, inferences that Varg saw him as an inferior lifeform, "a braindead metalhead", and there is the added story, backed up by Hellhammer, that Euronymous was plotting to kill Varg, but Hellhammer also mentions that Varg was plotting to kill Euronymous). Everyone acts like the Euronymous issue is settled, but having served his time, Varg nearly boasts on his site that he did the world a favor by killing Euronymous, but regardless of how scummy he was, maybe someone - these interviewers - should take that opportunity when presenting when Varg is harping away telling his tale of killing Euronymous to interject, "Did you realize that when you pursed Euronymous with the intent of killing him, after he had fled the scene, and you were no longer in any danger, that you could no longer say you were defending yourself, that at that moment your actions shifted to voluntary manslaughter? Furthermore have you never considered that statements you've made yourself since Euronymous's death suggest a self-satisfaction enough to indicate motive for premeditated murder, not to mention the fact that you fled the scene, and were actively conspiring with Snorre (Mayhem's then guitarist) to conceal evidence of your trip and the murder?" They also never poked him about the burnings; no one really has, they just accept the story of "I joked about it to a press guy trying to sell records and he took me seriously and called the police, and then all these metalheads went with that story trying to sell more records". They just added those arson charges to Varg's sentence based on testimony of people who cut deals to reduce sentences and/or thought it enhanced the black metal scene to own up to church burnings. Like all of their subjects, with perhaps the exception of Gylve who feels like he is being prodded and examined by the crew, Varg is given an open podium (and the most screen time, which actually I'm fine with because even when he's not talking about the controversies he was involved in, his views on music are enlightening and his views on his society are just saddening/maddening). Maybe these guys have never had the chance to speak unchallenged on camera before (Varg certainly had no problem speaking on his site), but it just seems irresponsible and for me it is personally irritating to let Varg talk without any restraint from the interviewer, if not challenges on his views, at least there should be some prodding for expansion (though Varg is often a thorough guy; Hellhammer is probably the most guilty of needing provocation to expound). Varg's plight, and I think it sparks many black metal musicians in Norway, is that he sees his homeland becoming increasingly assaulted and permeated by foreign cultures, his native culture nearly destroyed by the bombardment, and he wants to protect his heritage. Being an American, this is hard for me to empathize with. Being a New Orleanian, this is much easier for me to understand, though the forces that threaten my culture are typically natural (and then political), and everyone assimilates into our local culture well without ruining the roux. The tragedy here is that people like Varg all over the world can rage against assimilation however they like, and I have no right to criticize how they counter-assault what is perhaps the most important losing battle for their nation/culture/race until their methods include physical violence and murder.

• Steve K

  
  Okay but overlong. The music, which is mostly not black metal, is quite good.

• Jason C

  
  I enjoyed this documentary a lot more the second time around. I still recognize what I didn't like the first time, the pace is very s-l-o-w. This chronicles my absolute favorite type of music. So I'll always mark out to first hand testimony from originators such as Varg… More
  I enjoyed this documentary a lot more the second time around. I still recognize what I didn't like the first time, the pace is very s-l-o-w. This chronicles my absolute favorite type of music. So I'll always mark out to first hand testimony from originators such as Varg Vikernes and Fenriz. If you're not a fan of the music, I don't know how entertaining you'd find this. I guess if you're a fan of true crime, the murder and church burning might be captivating. I wish it hadn't cast such a large shadow over the music myself.

• El Hombre I

  
  Seems there's been a number of documentaries concerning metal. Some of them are good, some are pretty lame. Presented here, again, are the crimes of the early-nineties Norwegian black metal scene to include church burning and murder. Fans and others already familiar with the… More
  Seems there's been a number of documentaries concerning metal. Some of them are good, some are pretty lame. Presented here, again, are the crimes of the early-nineties Norwegian black metal scene to include church burning and murder. Fans and others already familiar with the music will learn nothing new since the subject has been applied by previous filmmakers. Made on a shoe-string budget with poor picture quality at times, it might have had a better payoff had the filmmakers included longer samples of music and delved a little further into the roots of the black metal scene, such as the "Do It Yourself" attitude that true punk music had, rather than its' reputation. Without that, one interview after another could have an outsider only see its' subject coming off as silly leather-clad, nihiliistic, facepainting homophobes instead of musicians during a highly relevant music scene, which nowadays almost pardodies itself much like the glam metal scene of the late 80's. After all, this is a documentary about METAL so let's hear it, already. <a href="http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/?action=view¤t=blackmetal.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/blackmetal.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

• Ryan M

  
  *** out of **** I'm basically what you would call a black metal virgin. Prior to watching the documentary "Until the Light Takes Us" by documentarians Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell, I'd only heard of the Norwegian cultural/musical movement here and there, mostly… More
  *** out of **** I'm basically what you would call a black metal virgin. Prior to watching the documentary "Until the Light Takes Us" by documentarians Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell, I'd only heard of the Norwegian cultural/musical movement here and there, mostly through little snippets from its nigh universal infamy. I was recommended this documentary by a friend and was interested in learning about something genuinely new to me, so it's in that regard that this film was effective and fulfilling. It will not be either of those things to a lot of people - especially those who are all too familiar with the movement - since otherwise it fails to develop a very compelling argument or any argument at all. What it is, instead, is an attempt to shed new light on the scene that it is covering; and I think it's in that area that it succeeds the most. Aites and Ewell interview a few notable contributors to the movement in the course of the feature doc. The one who gets the most screen-time is Gylve "Fenriz" Nagell; Norwegian drummer and vocalist best known for his work in the band Darkthrone. The film tries its hardest to take us beyond his appearances. On the outside, he's a leather-clad kid with long, dark, and straight hair; but who is this Fenriz really? In this documentary, he comes off as an intelligent, sympathetic, and genuinely cool guy who is open and simply misjudged by a lot of people. He's the unfortunate byproduct of a scene that he was involved in, albeit he did not condone a lot of the things that others did. The doc covers the bases of religion and rivalry amongst the people in the movement as well. The other interviewee who is on camera a lot is Varg "Count Grishnackh" Vikernes, part of the band (also Norwegian, also black metal) called Mayhem. He has some interesting stories to tell - such as those about the trials and murders of a few band mates - and provides some much needed comic relief. There, of course, has to be balance between these two most prominently featured people. They come from similar worlds but opposing sides, so to speak. Whereas Vikernes was impacted by a more violent existence, Nagell seems to have avoided that all-together. We're made to understand that the people being interviewed were non-conformists in the very conformist society that is Norway. In this sense, for their time, they were unmistakable and their art was controversial. I find stories about the freaks and the outsiders particularly intriguing and resonant; so I definitely felt some sympathy, but not pity, for these guys. The religious portion of the film, which is a decidedly significant portion at that, is probably the most engaging; even if it's merely providing facts and evidence rather than a riveting view-point. You shouldn't go to this film expecting that, regardless of what most documentaries have trained you to expect. This doc, like the peculiar people that it features, does not necessarily conform to the norm. It's obviously low-budget (my current camcorder could probably capture footage of a similar quality) and far from a great or masterful documentary, but if you know nothing about the black metal scene as I did when I walked in, I'd say give it a shot. And if you do know about the scene, try it out anyways. "Until the Light Takes Us" is a grueling and entertaining portrayal of societal misfits who specialized in music and modern art. I cannot, however, recommend it to the critics; for they probably won't like it if they know too much. But I can only hope that reading this review, you can understand where I stand. It's a documentary that provides a few stunning images that truly stick and food for thought that lingers in the mind for even longer afterwards. That's really all I was looking for.

• Ed Fucking H

  
  I was a little underwhlemed with this movie the first time I saw it. My hopes were pretty high as it had been advertised as an objective look at the going on's of the Norwegian black metal scene in the early 90's, which at this point have been documented thourghly elsewhere… More
  I was a little underwhlemed with this movie the first time I saw it. My hopes were pretty high as it had been advertised as an objective look at the going on's of the Norwegian black metal scene in the early 90's, which at this point have been documented thourghly elsewhere and on a few occassions, some other films have done a better job (One Upon a time in Norway being my favourite.) This is definently a better made documentary than that film however and for those unfamiliar with the story this is bound to be shocking stuff. I am also glad that a movie that will reach a wider audience than mearly Black Metal enthusiasts (like myself) has finely been made. This movie focuses mainly on Fenriz (Darkthrone) and Varg Vikernes (Burzum) as they recount the church burnings, murders, philosophy, asthetics etc of the early scene. The interviews with Varg are especially valuable as it is rare to get an indepth interview with the man who was still serving his 21 year sentence when this film was made. Fenriz is always a pleasure to see an interview of, as he always tells it like it is, and his outlook compared to the over serious Varg is a nice change of pace. The film however does have flaws. It might just be how I interpreted it but it seems like there is more non-black metal in the soundtrack, than the music all of these people are talking about. I have no problem with artists like Boards of Canada or Black Dice being included in the soundtrack and the film but the focus should remain on Black Metal. Also for fans of this music very little new information is brought to light and it doesn't seem like the filmmakers were asking original questions, or even relevent questions. I'm a big Harmony Korine fan but his little contribution to this film was wholey unnecassary. All in all I would recommend Once Upon a Time in Norway which focuseds soley on Mayhem who were really the central figures of this whole scene, over this to people who aren't familiar with the story. This is worth seeing as an artistically made documentary about a hostile and transgressive musical and cultural movement, but misses the mark on the substance side of things for me.

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