Search - Lisa Gerrard: Sanctuary on DVD

"Muse of the Universe" ~ Into the Primal Sea of Lisa Gerrard

Brian E. Erland | Brea, CA - USA | 12/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I should've known before viewing that this would be something different, something totally other from anything else I've ever viewed. It was that and so much more. For the first five minutes or so I found myself confused and somewhat disappointed. Or more precisely, I was in a state of shock. I couldn't figure out what was going on. Was this some kind of experimental film, poorly spliced newsreel, or maybe a hallucinogenic dream gone array? There were lights flashing, random images appearing and disappearing at a rapid pace. People were talking about things I didn't understand and everything was unconnected. Or so I thought. Leave it to Lisa to create a unique mood, an atmosphere where ones normal mental constructs could be short circuited enough to allow a new way of experiencing the world unfold before the viewer, a world where Lisa feels most at home.

This is obviously not your ordinary documentary laden with times, dates and events in the life of the person in question. There is as much to be learned about Lisa in the mood and music then there is in the words being spoken. How appropriate don't you think, a documentary whos message is conveyed by musical resonance and atmosphere about a singer and composer who sings without words. Truly amazing!

The confusion experienced at the beginning of the film ended with a feeling of profound silence and depth at its ending. Sitting motionless as the closing credits rolled by I was filled with an indescribable emotion that seemed to encompass me not only from within, but from without as well. I had to smile to myself. Lisa had performed her unconventional magic once again."

Good background stuff, but a bit talky

J. TIMMERMAN | Lawson, NSW Australia | 05/06/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Dead Can Dance and Lisa Gerrard fans will enjoy the biographical part of this doco. However there's very little music and a lot of talk - Lisa at her best is inspiring, at her worst incomprehensible. There's a lot going round in her head, and when trying to explain it to the interviewer she seems a bit off the planet. Interesting certainly but not something you'd watch over and over again, unlike Toward The Within which one could watch forever."

A True Sanctuary For Everyone

M+ | Temecula, CA USA | 04/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The film is AMAZING! Lisa Gerrard is still an angel, actually even bigger now. She talks about her career, her life, and longings and what motivates her. It's an intimate portrait always dignified of one of today's most incredible artist. I highly recommend it to every fan of Dead Can Dance."

If you like Gerrard's recent work, this *might* be worth wat

Christopher Culver | 04/29/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"SANCTUARY is a documentary by Clive Collier about the singer Lisa Gerrard, once half of Dead Can Dance and subsequently contributor to a number of solo albums and film scores. Besides numerous statements by Gerrard about her music and where she grew up in Melbourne, there are also interviews with Gerrard's parents, Hans Zimmer, Russell Crowe, Graeme Revell, Mark Magidson, Michael Mann and others.

Dead Can Dance, for all of its limitations, was a refreshing contribution to the 4AD label roster, synthesizing various eras of Western music and indigenous traditions from around the world. Gerrard's music remained compelling for a couple of years after DCD's last album. Unfortunately, her music soon became stale a repetitive, with her songs being reduced to little more than long, sweeping lines over a drone, each new release indistinguishable from the last and with no artistic development apparent. Unfortunately, the documentary concentrates on the film score phase, with only one portion being about DCD, and almost nothing at all about the recent reunion tour.

And Lisa Gerrard is just so completely loopy, rambling on about the holiness of her music with the eyes of a madwoman. If you remember her puzzling interviews on the Toward the Within DVD, here it's a hundred times worse. Many of the questions you might have about her career go unanswered: her reconcilitation of her adopted evangelical Christianity and musical inspiration from other spiritualities, the theoretical bases of her music, how she learnt to play the yangqin (Chinese hammered dulcimer)."