Movie Review: Lords of Chaos

Lords of Chaos **/ *****

Directed by: Jonas Akerlund.

Written by: Dennis Magnusson and Jonas Akerlund inspired by the book by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Soderlind.

Starring: Rory Culkin (Euronymous), Emory Cohen (Kristian “Varg” Vikernes), Jack Kilmer (Pelle “Dead” Ohlin), Sky Ferreira (Ann-Marit), Valter Skarsgard (Bard Guidvik “Faust” Eithun), Anthony De La Torre (Jan Axel “Hellhammer” Blomberg, Jonathan Barnwell (Jorn “Necrobutcher” Stubberud), Sam Coleman (Jon “Metalion” Kristiansen).

 

I have to admit, I’m kind of curious as to why the story of “real Norwegian Black Metal” doesn’t seem to really work as a movie. There was the documentary Until the Light Takes Us (2008) that told this story first – the story of murder, suicide, sex, arson, ego and rock and roll – and that film felt kind of like a missed opportunity, as it felt like a surface level skim of a fascinating story. And now, a decade later, comes Lords of Chaos – a dramatic retelling of the same events, and you end up with the same feeling. This story should work as a movie – and yet, in spite of some fine elements, it just doesn’t. In this case, it may just be that director Jonas Akerlund never seems to find the right tone for the movie – and doesn’t really seem to give a shit about his characters – all of whom he mocks more than anything else. And yet, despite of that, there are at least three really good performances in Lords of Chaos – they’re just in search of another movie.

 

The narrator of the story is Euronymous (Rory Culkin) – and he tells us from the start that things will not end well for him - I guess if you don’t know this story, and don’t want to know, you should stop reading now, although I think part of what this film is going for – part of the way it derives interest – is in making the conclusion seem inevitable from the start, examining how Euronymous and Varg (Emory Cohen) come together – and why one will eventually murder the other. The movie doesn’t seem to try and hide that. Euronymous is a teenage kid in Norway who really wants to create his own brand of black metal music – or at least, the real “Norwegian” brand of it. He starts a band, and they gain at least a little bit of a following (not enough to make them rich by any means) – in part because of their lead singer – who nicknames himself “Dead” (Jack Kilmer) – and, well, makes the nickname very apt in the first act of the movie. Like his dad, Kilmer is a fascinating performer – and he probably gives the films best performance, which makes it sad that he doesn’t last too long. This is a film where all the characters obsess about poseurs, always throwing that term around at anyone not like them, and even their friends when they have disagreements. Dead is many things – but he may well be the only non-poseur in the film – for all the good it did him.

 

That is perhaps why I found the film didn’t work that well. The film focuses on the friendship and eventual war between Euronymous and Varg – both of whom talk a good game, and then seem to want to try and one up each other to prove that they’re not poseurs – and that they are the “true” voice of Norwegian black metal. But Euronymous stops short of actually killing anyone – which another of their friends does to a gay man who hits on them – on setting the country’s old churches on fire – which Varg does – as a “message” to their Christian nation. But even those fires don’t actually come from a legitimate (albeit misplaced) anger at religion – but are just Varg’s way of “proving” he’s hardcore, when he really isn’t – or at least doesn’t feel like it, since he joins the movement late. Essentially, the movie is about two idiots trying to prove to each other how hardcore they are. Perhaps what is missing is the same thing that critics of the book the film is based on have complained about since it was written – that the book was written by a right wing ideologue whose sympathies aligned with someone like Varg, and therefore didn’t really examine his beliefs – which were established well before he joined the metal scene. The film certainly feels like there is something missing – and that could be it.

 

And yet, despite that, I think both Rory Culkin and Emory Cohen are quite good in the film. Culkin seems to handle the whiplash tone of the film – that can go from out and out comedic, to horror movie imagery and back again – with ease, although he particularly excels at the deadpan comedy parts of the film. Cohen excels at playing Varg as a dead eyed shark on the prowl.

 

Now that two films have tried, and basically failed (the documentary is better – but not as good as it should be) to tell this story, we likely won’t see a third. And that’s probably for the best – although I cannot help but wonder if perhaps there was some way – a better way – to tell this story that no one has thought of yet.