Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light Album Review
Huh? The album art for British singer-songwriter J. Spaceman's newest album Sweet Heart Sweet Light dons a white background, the outline of a stop sign, and the phrase "Huh?" It's an interesting icon, especially for a man who has made his life's work dodging media and disrupting critics, all the while releasing some of the most cherished music of the past few decades. Is it meant to confuse listeners? Should it signify a new direction for the band? More likely, it's Spaceman's subtle shrug of indifference to every listener.
But sadly, the album's cover is the most interesting word or phrase used throughout the entirety of Sweet Heart Sweet Light. Lyrically, the album is a huge step back for J. Spaceman, otherwise known as Jason Pierce. Spiritualized's lyrics have always been immediate at best, but there was a more heartfelt nature about them on past records. When Pierce sings, "I used up all my affection," and "I lost all of my direction," on "Get What You Deserve," the execution is far from effective, and the character in the song is Pierce personified. Maybe you're piqued by sentiments like "Love lights the flames when there's hearts it can burn," but on most of Sweet Heart Sweet Light, the messages are trite and over-simplified. And maybe taking lyrics out of context to make Pierce sound like a lazy songwriter is over-simplifying the issue, but one spin through the record, and it becomes blatantly obvious that brains behind Spiritualized was grasping at straws for subject matter.
Director: Jo Baier
Cast: Julien Boisselier, Joachim Krol, Hannelore Hoger, Ulrich Noethen, Armelle Deutsch, Chloé Stefani, Gabriela Maria Schmeide, Roger Casamajor, Sven Pippig, Sandra Huller
Country: Germany
Year: 2009
Henry Of Navarre is a historical dramatization that attempts to document the period of Henry IV's ascension to the throne and the religious wars which preceeded it. But despite the film's loftiest intentions, a weak script and an even weaker crew burden it to the point of no recovery.
All of the characters in the film are just that -- characters -- and they fulfill their general beings with mind-blowing one-dimensionality. Take, for instance, Henry Of Navarre (Henry IV) himself. While generally loved throughout his reign, Henry is shown in the film as completely without fault -- a point that is accentuated by the fact that he is surrounded by a slew of ridiculously worthless characters. Those characters include Catherine de Medici, mother of the three kings prior to Henry IV. She is known in history for her ruthlessnesss, but the only quality she possesses in the film is cruelty; she might as well have been Cruella de Vil, with less style. Her youngest son, Henry III, is probably the most complex character in the film, and even he is a caricature of a helpless homosexual king who keeps eccentric company. But it's obvious that character development means little, since new characters spring up inconsequentially and main characters die off without warning. Their deaths are alluded to but never shown (not that viewers are saved from their breathily expelled "last words," however).
