The Big Screen and The Stage that means The World

Retour au ciné – Earthset, L’Uomo Meccanico (2021)

Concert Film

Concert films had many highlights already, like the one for “Woodstock“, “Ziggy Stardust“, “Nirvana Unplugged” or more recent “Up In Smoke“, “Slane Castle“, “Elegies” or “Stage Fright“. But this one takes it to the next level, having a whole feature film within the film.

About a year after releasing the record “L’Uomo Meccanico”, Earthset hand in a visual documentary as well. And somehow it is with great excitement, as there was always the wish, to see this soundtrack in combination with the movie it was made for. After the music left questions open, now the answers are right there.

It is one year after the record, but a whole century after the release of the movie. It was restored by Cineteca di Bologna, so now it can be seen on the big screen behind the band. In February, they played the concert at the Teatro Communale di Bologna with contribution of the region Emilia-Romagna and collaboration with Ater Fondazione. The spectacle was captured by Fonoprint Studios.

Just a little later, the concert film was previewed at the festival Univercine, again at Viralissima and broadcasted on LepidaTV. Now you can experience the whole performance online. It starts tenderly, with some information written on the screen. The cameras show total shots from the front, side and behind and feature nice tracking shots and a top shot, revealing the beauty of the location.

It is not always easy to follow the story, and the text panels are in Italian. But the main events are clear, and the music supports the feelings of what is going on, like Stone Sour or Slayer their graphic novels. There are wild action sequences and threatening scenes like in “Tarantula” or “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers”.

The title-giving robot itself appears like “The Colossus of Rhodes” or “The Wicker Man“, even though those movies came out years later. Earthset use all the technics possible on their instruments for the effects including singing into the guitar. In the final battle, sparks spray both, on the screen and from the amps. To see, how the music fits to this cult milestone of classic cinema plus the wonderful setting are a big pleasure.