A great subject generally has the chance of lending itself to the certain success of any documentary. Having just watched Dark Star, the Life of H.R. Giger, I entered with that predisposed expectation. 

Giger's career as a highly influential 20th Century contemporary artist, and his Oscar winning creative contribution to Ridley Scott's film, Alien, is well documented. In this film we are given a bit of historical information about the artist’s past at the onset, and are privileged to see his lovely and dedicated wife Carmen expound with great affection about his work. As we weave in and out of his art throughout the documentary, which claims more attention than the words behind it, the interest builds. I am unsure as to whether this film would register with any persons outside of die-hard Giger fans or related genres, but I would hope so. 

Having said that, it was a magical experience for me, regardless of the part that seemed to be missing…More of the life between the start and the grand finale. I was initially annoyed by my struggle to read the subtitles that inconveniently fell atop the same range of color values. My irritation quickly subsided however, as I was walked down a path of intimacy with the dark master himself. The film is loaded with brilliant and unfamiliar images created by Giger. The expected presentations of his muse Li Tobler, and the HR Giger Museum, continues to capture the imagination whether it is new to the audience or not. One views with great detail, the seemingly chaotic environment of Giger's world and his assistant's effort to organize him. The backdrop does not, in any, way diminish the viewer's desire to catch every glimpse of something he created. 

The parts of the film that riveted my attention were the slices of conversations with Giger that seemed rife with ennui and human frailty. It is there that the riches of this documentary take flight into a world where one feels the need to hold him as he speaks. Aside from anybody's opinion about Giger's place in history, which will reveal itself in time, Dark Star: HR Giger's World comes highly recommended to anyone interested in the subject of art and what it means to be an artist.

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If not entirely by coincidence, marking the first anniversary of the artist's death, the 2nd HR Giger Documentary Film Festival, titled The Unseen Cinema of HR Giger, opens on May 22nd at New York City's Museum of Arts and Design. The festival will be introduced on opening night by Deborah Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie fame, friends an collaborators of the late artist. I hesitated calling Giger "late", if anything, he was, in the minimum, a half-century ahead of his time. The three program festival, screened over a period of two days, includes fifteen films about, or made in collaboration with, the visionary multimedia master, including the never before screened gems such as "A New Face of Debbie Harry", "Swiss Made" and "Passagen". The festival is the brainchild of HR Giger's long time agent, New York based Leslie Barany, co-produced with filmmaker, Zev Deans. Sight unseen, it is everyone's fervent hope that the HR Giger Documentary Film Festival will blossom into an annual event making its way across the country and beyond.
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