John Zorn

Sound

September 2, 1953 (72 years)

Manhattan, New York, USA

Biography

John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist with hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, and producer across a variety of genres including jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, metal, soundtrack, ambient, and improvised music. He incorporates diverse styles in his compositions, which he identifies as avant-garde or experimental. Zorn was described by Down Beat as "one of our most important composers". Z…

Filmography

8.0

Maohgai

Kishi is a 37-year-old personnel officer and fairly happy with work, wife and child. But he turns out to be susceptible to a more exciting life. Through his old schoolfriend Daimon he meets the attractive Yoshie and spends a sensational night of love with her. Kishi doesn't want to leave it at one night. On their second meeting, Daimon is also present and this night turns into a sado-masochistic ritual. A suppressed memory emerges in Kishi: once he raped an elderly woman with Daimon. Kishi again crossed a frontier this night and the relationship with his colleague Yuko also breaks boundaries. He slowly realises that his emotional life is taking a direction that he had never dreamed possible; Kishi moves into a new and dark world.

5.9

The Treatment

Jake Singer is at loose ends in NYC, and neck deep in psychoanalysis with the outrageous Dr. Morales when he meets the enigmatic and beautiful widow Allegra Marshall.

7.0

The Port of Last Resort

Documentary that follows the lives of several Jewish refugees who fled to Shanghai during WWII.

5.5

She Must Be Seeing Things

Agatha is an international lawyer, Jo a filmmaker. The two women are lovers. While Jo is on the road showing her films, Agatha discovers and reads her diaries. Problems ensue as Agatha's transgressions lead to jealousy and a spiraling cycle of sexual obsession.

7.0

Invitation to a Suicide

Raised in an insular Polish immigrant neighborhood in Brooklyn where he's destined to become a poor baker like his father, Kaz Malek attempts to steal from a Russian mobster and run away with the girl of his dreams, Eva. Not cut out for a life of crime, he ends up with a $10,000 debt to the mobster who threatens to kill his father. Unable to pay or face his father's death, Kaz comes up with a novel plan: he'll hang himself and sell tickets to the show. He is surprised to find, however, that the mobster as well as the neighborhood are extremely supportive of this idea... not to mention his father. But even if he can sell the tickets will he really go through with it? By the time this dark comedy reaches its surprising conclusion, Kaz learns that sometimes embracing death is the only way to a better life.

8.0

Thieves Quartet

Art gathers the ex-prisoners Jimmy and Mike with his girlfriend Jessica and presents a plan for kidnapping the daughter of a millionaire. The plan works perfectly and while waiting for the ransom in the border of Canada, ready to go to Rio de Janeiro, an incident happens with Jessica plus a betrayal in the group.

7.3

Zigrail

André and Kim are a young couple living together in Montréal. André works with his family in Bungee jumping business while Kim must go to study in Turkey. André stays at home until he received a call from her girlfriend announcing that she's pregnant and she is opting for abortion. To convince her not to, André begins a long journey to Istanbul as he goes deep in his mind to confront his life and fears.

2.8

Tears of Ecstasy

A conceptual pinku film by renowned experimental artist Hiroyuki Oki, which is conceived of 60 shots which all are 60 seconds long and represent an absurdist take on the narrative and stylistic schemes of erotic cinema.

4.7

Latin Boys Go to Hell

A cute, openly gay latin boy's hormones go into overdrive when his hunky cousin Angel arrives for an extended stay. The two explore the young and sometimes dangerous gay scene in the city's Latin neighborhood, with surprising outcomes.

7.5

In the Mirror of Maya Deren

Documentary about the life of avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren, who led the independent film movement of the 1940s.

5.7

The Elegant Spanking

This nouveau, sleekly produced film features the story of a unique lesbian S&M relationship between a mistress and her maid. Enter their fantasy: a seductive chain of nostalgically hot images, shocking, amusing and dripping with sexual perversion. The masquerade of dominance and submission is performed in the spirit of decadence, sexual freedom and spiritual abandonment. Goddess Rosemary is a hypnotic dancer with a beautiful body who seduces and punishes her Kitty. She knows how to snap the desire, feed the soul and materialize the unrelenting passion of kitty.

6.5

The Golden Boat

Inspired in form by American police TV shows and soap operas, The Golden Boat is a madcap, surreal dash through the streets of New York city, telling the mysterious and often hilarious story of an aged street-person named Austin, a comically compulsive assassin, as he joins up with a young rock critic and philosophy student named Israel Williams. In the course of their adventures, Austin pursues his object of desire - a Mexican soap opera star - and along the way engages a host of TV characters and bit players, whose repartee range from gangsterish insults to the question of God's existence.

10.0

Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags

"Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags" brings to life the vibrant, unexpected history of the Garment District, which for many years was the heart and soul of Midtown Manhattan, but is now in danger of disappearing. For thousands of immigrants the garment industry was a path to their American Dream, but today most of those jobs are gone.

8.0

Gotham

A film set to "Batman" by Naked City. Taking the band’s name and first album cover as a clue, Henry Hills drew heavily on themes in WeeGee’s photographs, recreating many of his pictures in their actual Lower East Side/Little Italy locations.

9.0

Shaolin Ulysses: Kung Fu Monks in America

Traces the journey of five kung fu monks in search of the American dream. Hailing from China's legendary Shaolin Temple, these Zen masters and kung fu stars have left their homeland to forge a new life and bring their special brand of martial arts to the west. Hear their personal stories (narrated by Beau Bridges) and watch in awe as they display some of their best moves.

7.0

Workingman's Death

Is heavy manual labour disappearing or is it just becoming invisible? Where can we still find it in the 21st century? Workingman's Death follows the trail of the HEROES in the illegal mines of the Ukraine, sniffs out GHOST among the sulphur workers in Indonesia, finds itself face to face with LIONS at a slaughterhouse in Nigeria, mingles with BROTHERS as they cut a huge oil tanker into pieces in Pakistan, and joins Chinese steel workers in hoping for a glorious FUTURE.

7.0

Mechanics Of The Brain

MECHANICS OF THE BRAIN is an experimental film in the form of a scientific documentary. A "remake" of the documentary film of the same name by Poudovkin (1926) on the work of Pavlov. Mechanics of the Brain presents 25 vignettes in 21 minutes, with an original soundtrack by John Zorn.

6.8

A Bookshelf on Top of the Sky: 12 Stories About John Zorn

A rare peek into the working methods of John Zorn. Filmed over a ten year period, this documentary includes live footage of Masada, Naked City, Cobra, as well as improvisations, his classical work and rare interviews. A prize winner at European festivals, this film documents Heuermann's very personal, fifteen year odyssey with the music of John Zorn.

10.0

Die Kunst des Erinnerns – Simon Wiesenthal

This film by Johanna Heer and Werner Schmiedel represents a homage to a man revered internationally as one of the great humanitarians of the 20th century. Raul Hilberg and other intellectuals also perceive him as a philosopher, although his primary work for many decades was the investigation of Nazi criminals.

8.0

Despite Treblinka

In 1942, nazi leaders met in Wansee to organize the final solution to the Jewish problem. The Warsaw guetto was first. Treblinka was created in a rural village near the Polish capital. 900.000 Jews and 500 Gypsies were murdered in 13 months. On August, 1943, the prisoners revolted and destroyed the camp. Only a few survived. Less than 10 worldwide remain today. Despite Treblinka tells the story of Mr. Rajchman, Mr. Wilenberg and Mr. Teigman. The movie follows the protagonists' paths in fairly chronological manner, from pre-war years, through Treblinka and the uprising, to the recent past and present, where a series of vignettes, often hilarious, show the possibility of living “despite” the horror.