The Nine Muses
Feb 03 - Feb 09, 2012
(John Akomfrah, 2011, USA, Blu-ray, 94 min)
Seattle Premiere!
Twenty-five years after the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus still has not returned home. His son, Telemachus, sets off on a journey in search of his lost father. So begins Homer's revered epic poem, The Odyssey, the primary narrative reference point for The Nine Muses, John Akomfrah's remarkable meditation about chance, fate and redemption.
Structured as an allegorical fable set between 1949 and 1970, The Nine Muses is comprised of nine overlapping musical chapters that mix archival material with original scenes. Together they form a stylized, idiosyncratic retelling of the history of mass migration to post-war Britain through the suggestive lens of the Homeric epic.
"As a structuring device to the montage, the nine Greek muses—of dance, tragedy, music, history, etc.—chiefly allow director John Akomfrah to punctuate this very personal meditation on England's changing social fabric." —Seattle Weekly
"Akomfrah's The Nine Muses wraps the viewer in literature, music and archive footage, summoning up a mood rather than a story that reflects on the immigrant experience and the violence of displacement with a majestic grace." —Jason Solomons, The Observer
