A Tale of Two Fishes

Think Cremaster Cycle as a shoestring rock opera.

By Nathan Carson
Image Courtesy of Rachel Mason

OFF-KEY, ON-POINT: Theodore Bouloukos, Rachel Mason and Bill Weeden.

Rachel Mason, an L.A. multimedia artist, has released 11 albums and successfully shown her sculptures, installations and films in New York, Chicago and Seattle. But she's just realizing what being a musician means for her. The Lives of Hamilton Fish, an hourlong rock opera, is the prolific Mason's first feature film and her most ambitious project to date.

Serving as a high-concept art film and an extended music video, The Lives of Hamilton Fish is a cinematic version of Mason's 12th record, which tells a story in music and lyrics of two men named Hamilton Fish.

Using video as a vehicle, the artist expanded her album into a nested series of music videos with a unifying storyline. When the obituaries of Hamilton Fish II (Theodore Bouloukos) and Hamilton "Albert" Fish (Bill Weeden) appeared on the front page of the same newspaper on the same day, it won the attention of the newspaper's editor (played by Mason herself). The two men's lives could not be more different— one is a wealthy New York politician, and the other is a renowned serial killer.

The Lives of Hamilton Fish is nothing if not experimental, and that takes a little getting used to. The only dialogue is Mason's narration, which segues each song or scene into the next, but both actors execute Mason's drama with enough deft lip-syncing, facial expression and careful motion to win the audience's attention. Recalling a less glamorous version of David Bowie's Aladdin Sane era, every actor wears abstract face paint. The sets and lighting are spartan. What Matthew Barney accomplished with excess and huge budgets in his mind-fucking Cremaster Cycle is hinted at here on a shoestring scale.

But once you're in its thrall, Mason's dramatic indie-folk score is surprisingly effective, tempering the darkness of Marissa Nadler with a hint of Yoko Ono. Notes sung off-key might jar less adventurous listeners, but songs like "Werewolf of Wisteria" woo you into the story of coincidence and contrast with music that's just as intriguing.

SEE IT: The Lives of Hamilton Fish screens at Northwest Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave, nwfilm.org. 7 pm Monday, Sept. 21. The director will attend. Live score performed by Rachel Mason and Night Cadet. $9. GRADE: B+

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