Review of Until the Light Takes Us

'Until The Light Gets Us',tries it's darndest to do for Black Metal (a kind of Heavy Metal hybrid from Norway,with contempt for standard form in that genre of music:i.e harmony & melody) what 'The Decline Of Western Civilization' did for Punk Rock back in the early 1980's,but falls somewhat short. Most of the documentary focuses on Varg Vikernes,a former member of a Black Metal band,that is currently serving a 21 year prison sentence for (alleged)murder & arson. Other persons that figure in this is Fenriz (yeah,you guessed it---another member of a Black Metal band),Hellhammer (they seem to have a penchant for some colourful names,don't they?),and even Harmony Korine (screen writer of 'Kids',and director of such fare as 'Gummo' & 'Julian Donkey Boy'),who tries to pass himself off as some kind of a Black Metal performance artist (we get to see an excerpt of one of his performance pieces at a performing arts space that has to be seen to be believed). The film (actually video,as it's shot in HD format)does benefit from some intelligent interview footage with Varg,as well as some others. We also get to find out about all of the negative press that Black Metal gets (oh gee,perhaps incidents,including the burning of churches,murder,suicide,the number of Satanic references that turn up,just may have to do with the general public prospering a fear and/or outright hatred of the whole Black Metal sub genre) The only question is...why isn't there much actual performance footage,or for that matter,much actual Black Metal music (most of the soundtrack consists of Dark Ambient,with just a few brief washes of Black Metal here & there)? First time directors,Aaron Aites & Audrey Ewell co direct a "rock doc" that,although well meaning,falls short. Cinematography by Audrey Ewell & Odd Reinhart-Nicolaysen,with editing by Andrew Ford. Certainly not the worst film dealing with the subject of Heavy Metal,but not the best by a long shot. It's your money & time. Spoken in English,and Norwegian with English subtitles. Not rated by the MPAA, this video movie contains pervasive strong language & some gruesome/disturbing images that you may want to take a pass on that large popcorn,on