A beautiful sunny day preceded the first event in the “iiNet Films Afloat” series: a unique event (part of the Sydney Festival) showcasing bands from around the world playing live (and original) soundtracks to three films. Enter the Dragon, Fantastic Planet and this, the seminal 1998 film Run Lola Run. And a good thing it was sunny, too, because you would have had to wait in the sun to get a good spot! By the time the film began, it was standing room only – people were even standing on the overpass above! It was fantastic to see such a turn out for such a unique concept – but people have definitely warmed to the idea, and one would expect to see the crowds in full force this weekend! But perhaps the word “FREE” helps out too.
Also preceding the event was a selection of short films, the “best entries” from the iiNet Get Animated competition, which will be screening every night. Well, I guess you can’t get “FREE” without a shitload of product placement, but this was certainly a fantastic way to do it. All the films were very entertaining, some slightly disturbing, and an excellent prologue to get the crowd ready to hush hush and watch the main event – something which it seemed most people didn’t quite comprehend until it began.
Situated on a floating stage in Darling Harbour (with extension cords handing precariously above the water), THE BAYS from the UK performed underneath a film screen, tonight showing Tom Twyker’s “Run Lola Run”, complete with everything but the soundtrack. For this event, that role would be fulfilled by The Bays themselves, performing a (mostly) improvised set for the entirety of the film.
Now I say “mostly” because there were definitely quite a few planned events, and it goes without saying they have done this before, but having no albums to their name, each performance is definitely a one-time-only affair. One of the planned events came during the lead up to the first death in the film, in which local jazz and soul singer Lily Dior came out and sung a beautiful number, cut short by the shot of a gun. What timing! What a moment!
While much of the set was what you’d expect from a soundtrack: lots of repetitive drum’n’bass for one, there were indeed moments of brilliance, and certainly improvised moments would have been among them. And it was these moments that truly added something new to the film. But it is here where you discover why these guys don’t have any albums: without the film playing in the background, this music means nothing, and would be considered little more (for the most part) than background noise. But when placed in the context of the film, it became something special, something grand, and something you could only have experience there, in that moment.
The moment where they probably got the best “Jam” in was during the credits, where they had an almost Matrix-esque rock song to play us home, and it looked like they were having a lot of fun with that one, able to be truly loud for a good amount of time!
It will be most interesting to see the other performances in this series: it is indeed a unique event, and could make you love a film you never knew you liked – after all, they say a film is nothing without a soundtrack, so why not do it live? And the Bays certainly prove it can be done.
