Lords of Chaos charts the early years of Norwegian black metal band Mayhem, from their humble beginnings with original singer Per "Dead" Ohlin (Jack Kilmer) through the addition of Varg Vikernes (Emory Cohen), the band members' descent into church burnings and murder, leading up to the murder of band founder Euronymous (Rory Culkin) in 1993.
I have a feeling I am a little more positive in my feelings toward this movie than the critics I have read. Part of the reason may be that I was only vaguely aware of Mayhem beforehand, so the story's various twists really got to me.
That being said, I was impressed with how unvarnished the portayal of the group is - at no point do their various antics - from Dead's onstage wrist-cutting to the church burnings and murder - feel like they have been glamorised. At no point does the movie buy into the cult of Mayhem.
Initially it was hard to figure out what the focus of this movie was - in the first 20-ish minutes, we blast through the beginnings of the band, the addition of Dead as vocalist and his subsequent suicide. Though Rory Culkin's Euronymous, is the narrator, he feels like a side character in the story for the first half.
Once Varg (Emory Cohen) enters frame, the story comes into focus - the film becomes a bizarre game, as each member of the group begins to one-up each other in an increasingly grim game of oneupmanship but who can be the most authentically 'evil'.
The shift toward making Euronymous more sympathetic comes across a little awkward - the way he gets into a relationship with a photographer feels too fast.
The movie's tone is awkward - it oscillates between grim docu-drama, black comedy and, most bizarrely, fantasy (Euronymous's visions of Dead in the woods). When the movie focuses on the conflict between the band's self-image and reality, the movie really connects.
One of my favourite scenes in the movie is Varg's decision to meet with a journalist to declare the existence of the Black Circle. This sequence is great because it is the first real collusion point between the fantasy the band have built around themselves and its own contradictions. When Varg runs through a list of the Circle's beliefs, including their desire to return Norway to paganism WHILE also being Satanists, the interviewer points out the contradiction.
The performances are the thing that makes the movie work. Ackerlund's direction gets moments, especially when highlighting contradictions: The cutaways to the band when Dead cuts his arms open onstage; Dead’s suicide is treated in stark wide shots.
But in other scenes it’s difficult to really identify power relationships - it is really down to Culkin and Cohen to supply those dynamics. Throughout the film, I found myself hooked by the story but only intermittently invested.
As Euronymous, Culkin is great - from the beginning his posturing always feels like a front. There is a vulnerability behind his bluster that makes the character so much more interesting (and infuriating).
Once the movie tries to make him more sympathetic, the movie’s lack of focus really starts to jar - Euronymous’s shift in character lacks insight. He meets a woman and has his moral compass re-oriented?
There is something missing from the filmmaking when it comes to the characterisation. Occasionally there is a sequence that works: the brief flashback to Euronymous crying over Dead's body is a great juxtaposition, retroactively puncturing Euronymous's earlier callousness.
But it is hard to figure out whose story this movie is meant to be.
As Varg, Cohen gets more of a transformation - Varg starts out as a hesitant kid named Chrisitian who is anxious to join Euronymous's band. Cohen lends the fledgling metalhead a lack of spine that is a great contrast to Culkin’s steel facade. There is a hunger to his performance - a constant sense that Varg is trying to find an identity to replace his own.
Once he has found a way in, Cohen gives Varg a mania and focus that is terrifying - while Euronymous is playing a role, Varg has anchored his whole being in his idea of what he thinks his mentor believes.
When this conflict between the leads is established, the movie gains a sense of focus that overrides the listlessness of the middle section.
While it suffers from a lack of focus, Lords of Chaos is worth checking out for the lead performances - without Culkin and Cohen the movie would not work as well as it does. A flawed but ultimately compelling watch.
If you are new to this blog, I also co-host a podcast on James Bond called The James Bond Cocktail Hour. Every episode, we do a review of one of the books and one of the movies, picked at random.
In the latest episode we review the 1968 novel Colonel Sun, written by Kingsley Amis. Subscribe on iTunes.
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