River of Fundament

Visionary artist Matthew Barney returns to cinema with this 3-part epic, a radical reinvention of Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings. In collaboration with composer Jonathan Bepler, Barney combines traditional modes of narrative cinema with filmed elements of performance, sculpture, and opera, reconstructing Mailer’s hypersexual story of Egyptian gods and the seven stages of reincarnation, alongside the rise and fall of the American car industry.

Cast

Chief Dave Beautiful Bald Eagle

Norman III

Milford Graves

Norman II

John Buffalo Mailer

Norman I

Ellen Burstyn

Hathfertiti

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Hathfertiti

Madyn G. Coakly

Hathfertiti

Paul Giamatti

Ptah-Nem-Hotep

Joan La Barbara

The Widow of Norman

Stephen Payne

Usermare

Aimee Mullins

The Ka of Norman / Isis

Matthew Barney

The Ka of Norman / Osiris: James Lee Byers

Jennie Knaggs

Nephthys