Stjernekigger (2002) User Reviews

Intense.

[disonant · 8/10 · 26 February 2004]

Just saw the movie on TV last night and it really gives an close look at the danish rock n roll buisiness. As a musician you really feel with this band and their tough struggle to get through to the safe betting record executives and their narrow minded ideas of what a good record should sound like.Of course its always easy to bark at the record industry but I really think this movie goes to show that logic and conventionel thinking isn't a very useful when it comes into handeling what music really is - Art! The movie is more than just a documentary about a band without a record deal,it's a universal statement about keeping on going when you know that you got something to offer.And surely swan Lee has a lot!

Great movie 8/10.

A musical document

[pbn · 6/10 · 4 July 2003]

"Stjernekigger" is an interesting documentary about the rise of the Danish rock band Swan Lee. The film is an intimate and personal documentation of the band's long, troubled path towards releasing their first album, the acclaimed "Enter".

We see the private conversations of the group, showing the frustrations they face with finding a steady group of band members, and the just as frustrating meetings with record executives. The film also uses its medium well, for instance in the artistic intro sequence (identical to the band's music video for "Tomorrow Never Dies") and some impressionist mosaics of picture and sound that describe singer Pernille Rosendahl's personal story. Also, the description of the frustrating business of contacting record companies is made interesting through entertaining compositions of telephone conversations that lead nowhere.

The film ends with the decision of recording the album for the band members' own money and then a brief look at the success that followed. I would have liked to see additional parts of the band's development process, for instance the songwriting, as well as the actual recording process. This would also have served as an elaboration on what the musical visions of the band are, which is another thing I only get an incomplete impression of as a viewer.