EDGE San Francisco

The five films that comprise the Cremaster Cycle created by art-world darling Matthew Barney are getting a rare re-release in a series of screenings beginning this Friday, July 30, at the Roxie Theater in SF. They are an offering of arty spectacles that purport to represent, via bizarre ritual and arcane symbolism, the biological process by which sexual differentiation occurs in the fetus. That such elucidation never really occurs is largely irrelevant. Fun fact: Testicles descend in the male of the species by means of an involuntary spasm of the cremaster muscle. Yay, team!

Out There has been following Barney’s heady career since its ballsy beginnings, and though the artist is not gay (married to Icelandic pop star Bjork), many of his concerns, such as the body beautiful and the limits of hieratic art, mirror ours. We’ve seen the Cremaster films as they were unleashed; studied his museum shows full of talismans and sculptures made from sports equipment and frozen petroleum jelly; watched the videos in which the artist, formerly a Yale football star, scaled the walls of galleries and museums in climbing gear and no clothes; and even met him once, at a museum social. He seemed shy but approachable, mild-mannered and seemingly sane.

The Cremaster films (1994-2002), though not created in chronological order, will be screened from 1 to 5, in mixed programs (see the schedule at www.roxie.com). If you watched them all in one sitting, they’d run to 7.5 hours. But you won’t, because they’re offered in separate screenings, and because your head would explode. Many art-lovers find the films unbearably pretentious; they combine a highly idiosyncratic language of symbolism and obscure references with over-the-top, Hollywood-like production values, but offer not much if anything in terms of plot or coherent narrative. If you go to a screening, don’t expect mindless entertainment. Following are a few remarks on each film based on our own recollections, exhibition catalogs and production notes.

Cremaster 1 (1995) Biological beginnings are reenacted by an elaborate choreography of burlesque figures in an actual football stadium, with blimps overhead representing - what? The testes is our guess. It’s Busby Berkeley meets Boise, Idaho, with perky showgirls on blue Astroturf.

Cremaster 2 (1999) Intercut in this Western-themed entry are scenes of the natural movements of a bee colony, evocations of Harry Houdini and Johnny Cash, and a reenactment of the crimes and punishment of serial murderer Gary Gilmore (played by Barney). The latter scenes are based on the nonfiction work The Executioner’s Song by the odious novelist Norman Mailer, who appears as Houdini. Some sort of biological transformation goes on at a service station; there is a cavalry formation, and a visit to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Don’t ask us; we found this one especially impenetrable.

Cremaster 3 (2002) We also didn’t understand the references to Celtic mythology and Masonic ritual, but this three-hour film, in which the Chrysler Building plays a starring role - lobby, elevator shaft, and "Cloud Club" - did hold our interest. Barney undergoes some weird dental/epidermal torture ritual; sculptor Richard Serra plays a mad architect; punk bands get to act out; and the spiral ramps of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum are transformed into a kind of demented Vegas showroom. It’s complicated and confusing, but sometimes fascinating to watch unfold.

Cremaster 4 (1994) We don’t know why, but Barney hamming it up as a tap-dancing, horned satyr is somehow emblematic of the whole series. Fairies, motorcycles, and more gnomic Celtic lore: we guess the testicles really are descending now!

Cremaster 5 (1997) This is indisputably the masterpiece of the series, in the form of a lyric opera set in late 19th-century Budapest, with movie star Ursula Andress playing the Queen of Chain, and vocalizing from atop the span of the city’s iconic bridge. A score by composer Jonathan Bepler lends at least musical coherence and interest to another wacky Barney production. Sexual differentiation completed? We’ll sit through this one again.

The films are screened over four different programs, two of which include Barney’s 2004 performance piece De Lama Lamina. We haven’t screened that, but here’s what the press release promises: "By invitation of the local Afro-Brazilian Carnival bloco (or krewe) Cortejo Afro, Barney and musician Arto Lindsay paraded with their own trio-electico, and collaborated with hundreds of guest musicians as part of the Carnaval de Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. The result is an ecstatic and very erotic blend of music, image and myth." We’re game.

Casting couch

San Francisco Opera has announced a public casting call seeking three supernumerary men to appear in SFO’s upcoming Fall 2010 production of Massenet ’s Werther. As part of the directorial concept for the production, three men who are approximately 5’10" tall will be cast as doubles for the title role of Werther, played by renowned tenor Ramon Vargas. This is a non-speaking, non-singing, non-dancing, volunteer role.

Supers volunteer their time and act as extras (in costume, with full make-up) on the stage in non-speaking roles. The casting call will take place on Mon., Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. in the Ballet Studio of the War Memorial Opera House in SF. To reserve a place in the casting schedule, auditioners should call (415) 551-6205 and leave name and phone number, or send an e-mail to supers@sfopera.com. Good luck to super wannabes!