Living with Legends

Scott Walker documentarian speaks to Chelsea Hotel resident Mia Hanson on the eve of the long-  awaited U.S. debut of his film, 30 Century Man.    (portrait by Mia Hanson)

It's been a very busy year for filmmaker Stephen Kijak.  He's back home in NYC just long enough to oversee the weeklong IFC screenings of 30 Century Man, his 2007 documentary on 60's pop icon turned musical enigma Scott Walker.  Anyone actively following the cutting edge of Modern music will be familiar with Scott Walker's creative evolution from his chart-topping days with the Walker Brothers to his mysterious chameleon-like turn as a highly perfectionistic singer-songwriter of dark, beautiful and challenging "operettas".   Buried forever are the approachable lovelorn anthems such as the 1966 Walker Brothers hit  "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore".  The singer's current presence in music occupies a space in which only Walker resides.  Few other composers can evoke such a polarity of emotional opinion as Scott Walker as he constructs sonic form out of punched meat sounds and bleating donkey calls.  Few other working composers are as brilliant and uncompromising, leaving both David Bowie (executive producer of 30 Century Man) and Brian Eno speechless and grasping for superlatives on film when attempting to describe their awe of Walker's scope and talent. 

30 Century Man has been winning praise at film festivals in Hong Kong, London, Sydney and Berlin (just to name a few!) while delighting Walker enthusiasts along the way with the gift of illuminating just what it might be like in the very private world of this musical enigma whose persona has been self- exiled in secrecy for decades. 

Luckily, Stephen Kijak is more open to discussing his craft.  It is clear that the documentarian seems drawn to telling the stories of idiosynchratic characters driven by their passion for the inexplicable.  In the film Cinemania, from 2002, his camera follows five film buff enthusiasts all teetering on the edge of a neurotic need to claim the dubious achievement award for who can warm the most theatre seats in NYC within a lifetime.  The film mines for gold and finds it.   You just can't make this stuff up.   Thinking about it,  it becomes more clear why Kijak would take an interest in the Hotel Chelsea, "a vital and significant cultural spot", in his own words.

One can say firsthand that Stephen knows how to stir the interests of fans to his films similarly to the way a filmmaker controls the tension and release of action within a sequence.  Intrigued by Walker's brooding compositions and psychology, I have attempted to purvey a preview copy of 30 Century Man for over a year now and Kijak is very good at controlling the time and place.  "Like all things in Scott's world, it will be worth the wait." 

And with this week's screenings at the IFC Center in Manhattan, the time is Now.

 I met up with Stephen on Wednesday at IFC for what was the first in a schedule of daily screenings up through December 23rd only.   Among all the excitement of the free giveaways during the director Q and A following the film, I neglected to mention that I have rarely seen a documentary so seductive in it's approach and I felt I was genuinely led by the hand and taken inside the sometimes lovely sometimes harrowing Walker compositions.   That night, Stephen confessed that his film had been held back for about a year in the U.S. due to miles of red tape:  "lots of song copyright issues and American lawyers".  

 

1."Why did you feel that a story on Scott Walker was important for you to tell at this time?"

2. "Scott Walker is still a bit of a mystery to his fans. Why has his mystique continued within the music industry for decades, even among his collaborators?"

3. "You started out in journalism. 30CM and Cinemania can be looked at as psychological pursuits in a way. What do you think?"