Bad City Dream Land

A work-in-progress video essay proposed for In The Works

A bold, stylistically diverse compilation soundtrack is present in each of Ana Lily Amirpour’s three feature films (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, 2014; The Bad Batch, 2016; Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, 2021). What separates A Girl though is the depth with which the soundtrack is integrated into the visual space, and the intensity of the world Amirpour builds from this visual-sonic relationship.

A Girl unfolds in Bad City, a city that might be less a physical place than a psychological phenomenon. Amirpour builds an intoxicating world, and notably, does so not through story, detail, and histories- there is minimal dialogue and plot- but through masterful visual and sonic storytelling. Shot in black and white with a potent use of anamorphic lenses, the photography immediately envelops the world presented to us. And importantly, the striking imagery in A Girl is met with an equally powerful soundtrack.

In this video essay, I show how Amirpour uses the soundtrack, enmeshed with the visual, to amplify a state of both physical and psychological disconnect. A disconnect from causality (what brought these characters to this point? What are their motivations?), from “the real world” (is Bad City a metaphor? Is any of this actually happening?) and at times from the film’s own diegesis (how do we theorize the “diegetic music” that we see/hear, when the photography is in slow motion, and the character seems to have left- more psychologically than physically- the diegesis?)

I start with an annotated presentation of the film’s 3-minute opening sequence, charting the entrance into the film’s world. In this opening, Amirpour employs the horror technique of “the event,” whose purpose is to ferry the characters and viewer to the other side. Amirpour’s event begins simply: Arash is walking. We don’t know where from, or where to, or why he seems to have stolen the cat he is carrying. The sequence culminates in the surreal image of an open pit full of bodies. We’ve passed through a doorway from which we will not return.

Next, I show examples of repeated visual-sonic motifs that occur throughout the film, which serve to support and amplify the disconnected dream state the characters and viewer find themselves in. These motifs include music-playing devices shown in the diegesis, slow motion photography, dancing, drug use, and creative sound mixing. I present these motifs in the video using a venn-type diagram, which intentionally does not separate them into traditional “visual” and “sound” traits. I argue that Bad City only exists through the integrated use of the visual-sonic. 

Two Views of Frank

Other recent videographic works

The Extratextual Soundtrack: Olivier Assayas’ Personal Shopper

Olivier Assayas’ Personal Shopper is a film full of ghosts, shadows, and unseen forces. These extend outside the filmic world through the numerous extratextual references in the soundtrack. The film uses minimal music (4 or 5 cues in total), but with each, Assayas adeptly references obscure musical historical elements, which when read, intensify the depth and slow burn of this dark film.

This work-in-progress examines extratextuality in two cues in the film. The first is Hildegard von Bingen’s “Ave generosa” (mid 12th c.). Hildegard, a Benedictine nun, was a composer of religious vocal music accompanied by her often surreal poetry. Hildegard is also known as a mystic and seer of visions, whose experiences survive in her numerous written texts. This video essay begins with an image from her Scivias (1152), and the accompanying quote from that text, in which Hildegard recounts being visited by a spirit.

Maureen (Kristen Stewart) is a medium. This is alluded to in Personal Shopper, though we don’t explicitly learn this until the scene that precedes the entrance of Hildegard’s “Ave generosa” (shown in part 1 of the video essay). It’s a subtle, yet powerful extratextual syllogism: Hildegard as Seer; Maureen as Hildegard; Maureen as Seer.

The second cue examined is “Das Hobellied,” an obscure German popular song from 1834. Personal Shopper’sphantoms are more directly referenced in this cue. Notably through the prominent German lyrics, which are an artful act of foreshadowing and a clear reference to the only other German thing in this film: Ingo. We ultimately learn that he is the unseen stalker and murderer central to the film’s plot, and by the end of this scene, for the aware viewer, that seed has been planted.

“Das Hobellied” is an allegorical tale of envy and desire, and ultimately about the indifference of fate/death. As “Das Hobellied” plays in the film, Maureen has snuck into her wealthy employer, Kyra’s, apartment and is secretly trying on her clothes. Maureen desires not only the clothes, but Kyra’s life, and Kyra herself.

The particular recording of “Das Hobellied” Assayas uses, sung by Marlene Dietrich, is itself an extratextual reference. Like a central theme in the film, Dietrich was a desired icon of beauty, wealth, and fame.

“Das Hobellied” continues to signify through a close reading of its lyrics. The third verse begins: “When Death will call, as well he may, and say, ‘Come underground!’” This lyric, read in the building referential context of this film seems to be a reference to the stalker who obsessively texts Maureen.  

The song ends with more foreshadowing: “But fate will take its [carpenter’s] plane and freely level everyone.” Kyra- rich, beautiful, and famous- is murdered soon after in the film. As the song tells us, death is indifferent to status. 

[The next cue to be analyzed in this work-in-progress is Ponç d’Ortafà’s (1170-1246) “Si ay perdut mon saber.” d’Ortafà was a medieval troubadour (travelling musician and storyteller), and Assayas employs his music in the final sequence in Personal Shopper, when Maureen leaves Paris and travels to meet her partner in Oman.]

This piece arose from a frustration with the film, Frank (Lenny Abrahamson, 2014). On the one hand, the film is a real and sometimes devastating portrayal of the labor and personal costs of the creative process. On the other hand, it’s a twee indie comedy about a band of eccentrics and their misadventures in music making.

This video essay is two different collage cuts of Frank: one is the version of Frank I wish the film consistently was. The second, well, not so much.

One of the problematic tensions in this film is the tonal disconnect between the indie-twee soundtrack, and the surprisingly good experimental music the band in the film makes. We follow a group of road-worn musicians as they record an album and grapple with mental health issues. Frank comes tantalizingly close to recognizing the weight of its commentary on the personal costs of the creative act. But ultimately, the film shies away from that by pushing shenanigans and silly non-diegetic cues full of cute glockenspiel at us.

How can these two worlds be traversed? I’m an optimist (towards artists) and a cynic (about industry), so my hypothesis is that someone, somewhere upstream in the filmmaking process was concerned that the film was too heavy and might alienate audiences, and so asked for some rewrites or recuts. I have no proof of this other than what I know about the film industry.

But for what it’s worth, I’d like to request more heavy films that someone is worried will alienate me.

Shirt and Tie

This video PechaKucha is an exercise in compressing visual narrative, highlighting Shaun’s evolution from slacker, to hardened zombie killer- in one minute- using the visual imagery of the shirt and tie he wears throughout the movie. The song, Man Parrish’s “Hip Hop Be Bop” (1983), is the diegetic music from clip #2, which when used over the entire video, creates something between a PechaKucha, a film trailer, and a music video.  

I made this PechaKucha as an example for students in my film music seminar. PechaKuchas traditionally use one minute of audio from the film (often dialogue). I give my students the option of using a cue from the soundtrack, and I made this example to demonstrate that. PechaKuchas are an exercise that use ten 6-second clips, but in a bit of oversight caused by procrastination before class, this one uses six 10-second clips.

See the Sounds page on this website for a sample of creative works.