(Plexifilm)

www.plexifilm.com

It is at long last that we are finally able to grasp the magnitude of Arthur Russell's music, albeit sixteen years after his death.  Mostly forgotten except to a scant few music aficionados and close personal friends, Russell's forays into folk, folk rock, avant-garde, and disco-at times separate and at times intermixed-are remarkable to behold.

For those who have never heard of Russell-and we are minions to be sure-Plexifilm's new film Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell can act as a kind of primer on the man's life and music.  The film is a broad-brush stroke biography, beautifully shot and edited by Matt Wolf.  The outlines of Russell's life are here, from his childhood in Iowa, his immersion in New York's avant-garde, new wave, and disco scenes, all peppered with plenty of interview material with former band mates, friends, and associates (among them Phillip Glass and Allen Ginsburg).

It is strange, then, to note that amidst what is ultimately a very enjoyable documentary, Wild Combination also manifests a strange lack of depth.  We know little about what Russell thought or felt and how that manifested itself in his music, a strange omission considering the staggering amount of material he left behind to explore.  This is a biography, and so it should be, but in limiting its approach it leaves the viewer wondering what Russell's music was all about.

One option for the curious: Love Is Overtaking Me, the fifth posthumous Russell release from Audika Records (reviewed HERE on the BLURT site). CHRISTIAN KIEFER