Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell

Arthur Russell was a gifted avant garde musician and composer whose story is beautifully rendered in this artfully constructed documentary. Russell was a prolific creator of experimental music and has only in recent years been re-discovered since he faded into obscurity following his death from Aids in 1992. Born in rural Iowa he escaped to New York and collaborated with Allen Ginsberg and Philip Glass. He embraced the creative ferment of New York's avant garde music scene while also working as a pioneering disco producer. Russell began producing music which combined serial patterns crossed with dance rhythms, a strange fusion. And his music got stranger. His story is part of the extraordinary sexual and cultural explosion of New York in the 1970s and 80s. Even if you have no interest in avant garde music, and have never heard of Arthur Russell, you will enjoy this utterly absorbing film celebrating a troubled talent.
Brian Robinson