Francis of Delirium picks 4 movies to pair with ‘Run, Run Pure Beauty’
In Pairings, artists and creators pick the movies that complement their latest work.
Francis of Delirium is the indie rock band of Jana Bahrich whose new album Run, Run Pure Beauty is out on May 29 wherever you get your music!
We asked Jana to pick a few movies that pair well with Run, Run Pure Beauty. Here’s what she wrote about them.
Dekalog: One
The Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski made a series of 10 films called Dekalog and each one is inspired by one of the Ten Commandments. I watched each of the films over the year-and-a-half process of making the album. Then suddenly our Cinematheque was showing all the Dekalog films so I didn’t have to watch it via YouTube anymore. The cinematography is gorgeous, so you should really avoid watching on YouTube if you can. I think all 10 films are worth your time, but in relation to Run, Run Pure Beauty I would choose Dekalog: One. It’s a cautionary tale about putting all your trust in technology.
Alice in Wonderland (1988)
I lived in Brussels for two months during the mixing and mastering part of making the album. One day, my roommates were in the living room watching Jan Svankmajer’s Alice in Wonderland. I couldn’t stay because someone had cut through half my bike lock and I had to go out and get a new one, but I was immediately pulled into the world created via stop-motion and how true it felt. The whole time I was in Brussels I knew I wanted to make a stop-motion music video. I had all the materials scattered around my room and my desk. Eventually, I went back and watched the movie in full. The darkness and absurdity and beauty of it feels connected to the album.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Throughout the album making process I think I was subconsciously asking myself how do I live engaged with life and engaged in choosing love over fear. The scenes with Gollum’s inner dialogue at the pool so beautifully illustrate this choice between love and fear. It is one of my favourite scenes ever that exists.
Space Jam
Run, Run Pure Beauty also explores a pervasive loneliness and a desire to connect with other people. I take Space Jam as a movie about friendship and building community, finding your people to lean on. There is no beauty without connection. I also made a basketball music video with my friend Kiyan for “It’s a Beautiful Life,” the final song on the album. The video was heavily inspired by movies like Space Jam, Little Miss Sunshine and Napoleon Dynamite and ultimately became a story about community and perseverance, both on and off screen.