by Chance Solem-Pfeifer
If no one saw Ben Brodin at Film Streams tonight, that would be fine by him.
It’s not that the Omaha multi-instrumentalist and sound engineer isn’t enthusiastic about his performance for the third installment of Film Streams' The Hitchcock 9 series, just that he’d like his own presence in the theater to be in proper portion to Hitchcock’s 1928 silent film Easy Virtue. So put Brodin behind a tarp, or make him invisible.
“It’s weird because you’re not on stage, but you’re not even offstage enough, I think,” says Brodin, who has live-scored silent movies at Film Streams previously with Todd and Orenda Fink and once with Jake Bellows and Ryan Fox.
“I would love to be behind a shroud or big black curtain. Because I don’t think I need to be seen. You’re there and if the performance is well-attended, there’s people sitting really close by, a few feet away sitting there watching you and it’s kind of weird.”
photo by Angie Norman
Brodin sees the relationship between the player and the film at these events to be a fascinating and fundamental juggling act. He’s aware people might buy a ticket to see him — a friend or performer they want to support — but insists that Hitchcock and his cinematic contributions should be the focal point of people’s attention. As the participating musician, over-perform, and the silent film turns into some kind of vaudevillian caricature. Underwrite, without regard for themes and characters, and the soundtrack becomes its own kind of distraction where the musician seems like a separate entity from the film.
“When I’ve seen any of the other performers do silent films, I watch the film,” Brodin says. “I can hear them with my ears, so I don’t really need to look, like, “Oh it’s Dan [McCarthy] and he’s playing a piano!” It’s all pretty normal stuff. I’m sure a lot of people will go because it’s me or whatever, but I’m really there just to try and serve the film. It’s fucking Alfred Hitchcock. I’m not the reason for the season.”
As a solo performer tonight, Brodin’s primary instrument will be a Rhodes electric piano, though ambience and sound effects will play a pivotal role, as well. Brodin will work with several cassette loops and one loop of wire recording: a pre-cassette recording technology, which Brodin appreciates for the ambient sound of its steel wire reeling on and off of a spool. Aware of the irony, Brodin says he finds absolute silence during silent films to feel disconcerting. Beneath what he describes as a “watery Radiohead vibe,” his instrumental piano tones will be shored up by constant white noise and elongated by filters, loops and echoes.
“I only have myself to work with, so I’m recording cassette loops that have to be timed out. It’s a little more putting puzzle pieces together and cutting some pieces to fit certain themes.”
If there’s a philosophical question lingering about Brodin’s scoring of Easy Virtue, it’s what a piece of film must do for the composer in order for his service to feel genuine. Does a composer have to independently enjoy the content of the film he’s attached himself to? It’s a question Brodin has had to work through leading up to tonight’s performance. Easy Virtue, based on the 1924 play by Noël Coward, centers on the life of Larita (played by Isabel Jeans), a moneyed socialite put on trial during her divorce proceedings. The second half of the movie is dominated by '20s-era parlor-room intrigue and whether or not Larita’s divorce scandal will be discovered by the family of her new husband.
“I’m not a huge fan of the film,” Brodin says of the plot. “It didn’t grab me like a lot of other silent films. Whether or not that makes it a good or bad film, it’s just less affecting to me than normal. A woman is getting her portrait painted? How universal is this stuff? Not at all.”
But, of course, Brodin doesn’t stop with that level of audience-response criticism. As a working producer and sound engineer out of Omaha's ARC studios, the idea of performing in service to a larger production that may divert from his personal tastes is not an unfamiliar set of circumstances. Intellectually and artistically, he understands the proper maneuvers not to shirk his responsibilities when he’s not a fan of the music he’s recording.
“I’m in this position all the time at the studio, working with groups, and I’m not a huge fan of whatever I happen to be working on. It’s not like I love all things,” Brodin says. “But I think part of doing a good job at what I do professionally is finding something I really sincerely enjoy. You start putting yourself into it, so you can get more out of it. Even though I didn’t love the film as it was presented to me, you smoke some pot and squint your eyes and find something beautiful in it.”
Even further, Brodin recognizes that the experience of the audience on Thursday night and the rarity of the sort of series Film Streams is catering transcends what any one person feels about how a protagonist resonates.
“The subject matter is whatever, but it’s really cool just by virtue of the fact that this is Hitchcock's very early stuff. There are shots that harken to what he’s gonna do later on — in addition to the fact that we never see silent films anymore let alone with live music, so it makes this a special event.
Chance Solem-Pfeifer is Hear Nebraska’s managing editor. You have to watch the opening shot of this movie, at least. Reach Chance at chancesp@hearnebraska.org.