Book of Days

□ Meredith Monk / “Book of Days: Madwoman's Vision”

>> https://youtu.be/RIh4A6nyquY?si=vlNKMC27PfQfhreq

Book of Days (1988, 85 minutes)
Conceived and Directed by Meredith Monk
Cinematography by Jerry Pantzer
Art Direction and Costume Design by Yoshio Yabara
Music by Meredith Monk
Produced by Catherine Tatge and Dominique Lasseur

稀代のヴォイス・パフォーマー、メレディス・モンク自らが製作した声楽映画『Book of Days』。未来視によって現代を垣間見る中世の少女を軸に、反復する事象の『無時間性』を浮き彫りにする

東欧の山間民族風のチャントと、キリスト教会合唱をミックスしたような響きだけれど、この曲は後半につれて次第に狂気の色を帯びていき、啜り泣きとも嘆き声ともつかないモンクの歌唱に圧倒される


Book of Days is a film about time, originally drawing parallels between the Middle Ages, a time of war, plague and fear of the Apocalypse, with modern times of racial and religious conflict, the AIDS epidemic, and fear of nuclear annihilation. In light of the current pandemic, the cyclical nature of such phenomena has made itself known once more. While the film provides no answers, it nevertheless is a tribute to vision and the imagination, and a poetic incantation of that which connects us. Book of Days previously aired on PBS, was shown at the New York Film Festival and was selected for the Whitney Biennial