Customer Reviews

Lisa Gerrard: Sanctuary

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I have been a long time fan of Lisa Gerrard and not so much of her newer, more slow moving stuff. She pretty much lost me after Duality and so I was really afraid to buy this video because of all the reviews saying it focuses only on her newer stuff which I was not interested in at all.

Finally I got a good price on it so I went ahead and got it and I am really glad I did. This is a really cool video that looks into a woman who is actually pretty odd and I loved it. And it seems to me like it gives a pretty fair amount of attention to her whole career, every part of it, and not just the newer stuff. They talk about the early days, her childhood, the heyday of DCD and onward. It kind of jumps around but it does touch on all of it.

I think the weirdest moments are when she is standing under a highway overpass and (I guess) harmonizing with passing cars. I loved that, too, though because I would only hope to be so sure of myself someday.

She is a beautiful soul who finds profundity in simple things and she rattles a little but I didn't have any problems following what she was talking about at all.

I think if you really are a fan then you would like this.

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).

The accomplished Australian artist Lisa Gerrard is possibly my favorite contemporary female vocalists. I always find great inspiration in her extremely haunting, evocative and intense music. She got her start in the music business in the early 1980s with the alternative world music group Dead Can Dance. Along with fellow vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Brendan Perry, Dead Can Dance were based in London, and were signed under the record label 4AD. Inspired by Northern European and Middle Eastern music they blazed a trail well into the 1990s releasing several beautiful, unusual and challenging albums... and the highlights on each of these releases for me was always her exquisite singing. After Dead Can Dance broke up and the two artists went their own separate ways Lisa Gerrard branched out into a brilliant independent career; composing music for films, and releasing magnificent solo and collaborative albums. This truly wonderful "documentary portrait" is a brief exploration of Lisa Gerrard's career thus far, and of what moves and inspires her; such as living in her beautiful country home outside of Melbourne surrounded by lush temperate rainforest, or her beloved children. When it comes to her music she is greatly inspired by the soothing sounds of nature... and more unexpectedly by the roar of motor traffic passing through a freeway tunnel! She also discusses issues and concerns that affect her in a profound emotional way, like the inhumanity of mankind, or the corruption of Western culture. Growing up in an affluent multicultural Melbourne suburb she was inspired by the exotic traditional music of the various ethnic families that lived around her. She had wanted to be a singer and a musician since she was a young child, and her parents recall that they used to listen to her heavenly voice and anxiously wonder where it would take her. Lisa Gerrard's music is highly abstract and incredibly emotive and she sings in her own personal language that to some may seem pretentious; but is in fact incredibly sublime, spiritual and passionate. While on rare occasions she uses the spoken word, most of the time she uses her voice, almost like a powerful instrument that is full of wordless emotion and feeling. The range of her vocal abilities is quite astonishing, ranging from an almost masculine timbre to a feminine intonation that must at times must tax her vocal cords. Her music has a melancholic and minimalist quality that cannot easily be categorized into any particular musical genre, and that makes her rather hard to pigeon hole and commercialize. One of the reasons many love her music so much is because she sings with such a naked intensity and incredible emotional honesty that it can very easily move one to tears, as it sometimes does with her audiences.

Sanctuary includes interviews with many of the creative individuals whom she has collaborated with over the years, and this insightful documentary sheds light on a highly driven woman and personality. While there are not many special features on this disk: just an interview with the director, a video clip (Come Tenderness) a discography and a photo gallery... I don't mind for it really is just lovely to own. Ms Gerrard is one of the most gifted female vocalists of the past few decades and I would highly recommend this revealing documentary DVD to anyone who appreciates her sublime music.

* On a more recent note Dead Can Dance have reformed and are already working on a new album in Ireland and performing small concerts, obviously to the great delight of their many devoted fans! =)

Not sure I liked this as much as I thought I would. How the interviewing voices overlapping music & sound effects got in the way. The fast paced edits & bizarre visuals at the beginning were odd. Interviewing Lisa in various settings like the fern forest, the freeway underpass, & in her home, was a very nice presentation.

This is a unique DVD unfolding the persona of Lisa Gerrard. The way it is created is superb 'a must have' for all Lisa's and Dead Can Dance fans. I watched it twice the day it arrived and I couldn't have imagined that it would be so well made. The artwork is awesome and the steps of narrating it is not chronological which is not a disadvantage. Only Lisa could have such work made. I especially enjoyed the soundtrack subtitles where you watch the film and you know exactly which piece of music or song you listen to at the time and was shocked at all this material that has not been released yet.There are many more features including a video clip etc ... overall you can never have enough of Lisa.

I have never met Lisa Gerrard but the energy I saw come from her @ a live show was astonishing! This video captures the intensity and also gives the viewer a glimpse into her world. I am forever grateful that it was created and also surprised by the graphical and artist quality of the overall production. If you like Lisa's personal work or Dead Can Dance buy this!!!

First I want to say that the reason I bought this DVD was because Dead Can Dance are one of my all time favourite bands. Although I have most of Lisa Gerrards solo albums I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to say I'm a fan of her solo work, it would be more accurate to say I'm a fan by association, meaning her association with DCD. The reason for this is because in her solo work she seems to favour her deep voice which is a shame because her best work is when she's using her voice at a medium and high pitch that you hear in a lot of the DCD stuff and on Gladiator. Hearing her sing in that deep voice, it sometimes sounds like a 50 year old Shakira doing opera.

Back to the DVD, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with Sanctuary. I knew it was going to be predominantly about Lisa but I also knew they would have to touch on DCD at some point along way and that was really all I was interested in seeing. There are no other DVDs (or books for that matter) about the history of DCD so I was really hoping to get a better glimpse into the bands history, this DVD is as close fans of DCD will get. At most you get about 15-20 minutes that deals with DCD and it feels like a vague reference, like as though the band wasn't together for well over a decade. Also if you're a person that missed out on their last tour watching this will only serve to depress you more, especially since it's hard to see whether or not they'll tour again. Brendan Perry doesn't seem to participate that much in the documentary, this could be an indication that there is still some unease between the two, which is a real shame.
Another thing that put me off the DVD which was mentioned by another reviewer was Lisa herself. There is no doubting that she is a well educated and astute individual but the manner by which she expresses her answers and ideas can get quite tiresome after a while, she constantly speaks in a poetic and ambiguous manner that makes listening to her speak quite a chore. It was ok when you heard it in small doses on the Toward the Within DVD but you get too much of it in this documentary, to the point that you wish the interviewer would say: "Could you please not talk like that for about ten minutes". I doubt she speaks like that all the time because if she did she'd never get any work done with people. Some people may like that about Lisa but when you hear a lot of it, as I said it gets tiresome. Its like as though there's a gap between her forming an idea in her head and what comes out when she speaks.

Generally you're supposed to walk away from a documentary with something new you didn't know before but I just had no idea what she was talking about half the time. And that's another thing I don't know why it's called a documentary, its mostly just interviews there's no narrator or hardly any stock footage. It starts off with the idea that it's going to be documentary but it would be more accurate to say that this is an interview DVD rather than a documentary.