Treasures From American Film Archives (4 Volumes) [12 Dvd9s] (2000 2009)

Renowned director Lars Von Trier's stroke of genius in making his 2000 film Dancer in the Dark was to cast Iceland-born avant-pop siren Bjork in the central role and then enlist her aid in composing and performing a series of musical numbers for the movie. In the film, Bjork's character Selma lives an unrelentingly hard life as a single mother and factory worker who is quickly going blind. The film's songs come from Selma's inner world, where she (and the audience) find respite from all the harshness of reality.

Bjork's compositions, with orchestral arrangements from Vince Mendoza, hang together on their own quite nicely. Catherine Deneuve (Bjork's co-star) and Radiohead's Thom Yorke make effective vocal cameos, but Bjork's voice and music are the central focus. As we hear the industrial sounds of the factory turn into the rhythm of a song, or follow Bjork's oddly intuitive melodic leaps through a dreamlike haze of strings, it becomes clear that her idiosyncratic writing style adapts quite well to the cinematic milieu. As usual, her uniquely entrancing singing style stands out above almost all else.

Joseph Vitarelli's (THE LAST SEDUCTION, SHE'S SO LOVELY, COMMANDMENTS) lush, orchestral score evokes a contemplative, playful, and sometimes haunting reflection of filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn's journey to piece together the life of his absent father, renowned architect Louis I. Kahn. The MY ARCHITECT soundtrack also features two vocal performances: the devotional "Call to Prayer" (a striking solo by a Muslim muezzin recorded on location at the mosque in Kahn's monumental National Assembly Building of Bangladesh) and the celebratory Hebrew hymn "Hayom Tamtzeinu" rendered with fervor by a cantor originally from Kahn's home city of Philadelphia. Included also on the soundtrack is a taped snippet of Louis Kahn himself in the visionary moment captured in a track called 'The Brick'. The documentary MY ARCHITECT was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, and won the hearts of audiences and critics alike, placing it on a large number of best film of the year lists.