Animal Collective’s ODDSAC Premieres at Sundance

Guys in tight pants and thick-framed glasses and girls in beat-up, old sneakers braved the freezing temperatures of this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, to be the first to see the premier of Animal Collective’s new film, ODDSAC.

The film premiered in a small Cinemark Theater during the week of Sundance, and each showing was preceded by the debut of a 27-minute animation film by artist Glenda Wharton called "The ZO." Following the short film was ODDSAC, an eerie and mysterious film lasting a little under an hour, and comprised of several different scenes set to the music and sounds of—yes, you guessed it—Animal Collective.

Those familiar with Animal Collective’s music should have been somewhat prepared for what they were about to see: Oil bleeding from walls, a scary clown/vampire attacking a family camping in the woods, a group of girls getting in a food fight, and quick flashes of terrifying, paint covered human faces are just some of the scenes shown in the movie.

ODDSAC manages to evoke a wide range of emotions—at times dark and mysterious, while at others, buoyant and hopeful. There are some terrifying moments, and some moments of surprise; there are times when you feel very uncomfortable, and times when you want to get up and dance.

Throughout this range of emotion, the type of music playing at any given time is synched perfectly with the action and image on the screen. For example, at one point a terrifying clown/vampire is caught outside during daylight, thus getting scorched by the sun. Bright blue, purple and red blood starts pouring from his head as he thrashes about—matching vividly with the frenetic, maddening music playing in unison.

As a warning, ODDSAC probably isn’t for everyone. A lot of people may in fact hate it. However, the film is yet another outcrop of Animal Collective’s evolving, forever experimental sound. You may not understand all of it, but then again, when has anyone understood everything that was going on in the collective artistic mind of Animal Collective.

At the end of the Thursday, January 28 screening, Danny Perez, the film’s director, answered audience members’ questions. Someone asked if the film’s images were inspired by the sound, or if the sound was inspired by the images. Perez said it went back and forth at points, but that most of the music created for the film was based on the images: “It’s a liberating way of working with sound,” he said.

Following Perez’s talk, he welcomed Animal Collective to the front of the theater. The band answered questions and then met with moviegoers after the film. “It was definitely enjoyable,” said Dave Portner, aka Avery Tare of Animal Collective. “We’re always looking for new ways to come up with song forms.”

For more information on the movie, to watch the trailer and for upcoming showings of the film, visit www.oddsac.com.