Out with ‘Inni’

Every once in a while, a great piece of motion picture art comes along, and it falls outside of every definable genre.

In the case of “Inni,” a short documentary consisting mostly of the claustrophobic live performances by the Icelandic band Sigur Ros, indefinable is not always a good thing. 

But the creators of “Inni,” including the four-person band whose music has appeared in multiple U.S. movies and has collaborated with artists such as Radiohead, probably couldn’t care less whether it is categorized by the genres or subgenres cinema has to offer.

Despite the indulgent screen captures of a black, pulsing piece of blob, “Inni” opens with a fantastic 10-minute performance that quickly conveys Sigur Ros as a one-of-a-kind band. Using a bow on an electric guitar while endlessly belting a perfect falsetto, lead singer Jonsi Birgisson never loses breath, or grace for that matter.

Every band performance is shot in a unique tone of black and white from which viewers are sure to get a sense of the pain and passion the members of Sigur Ros put into their art. During brief screen captures of the band being interviewed, the members don’t seem to care to articulate what their music is, or at least how others may listen to it. The one humorous moment of “Inni” involves one member saying, “We worship the devil and we make music for him.”

Birgisson sounds more like an angel than a devil-worshipper. And beyond its majestic costumes in concert, Sigur Ros appears to be a relatively normal bunch of musicians. 
Whereas die-hard fans might have exited the theater feeling closer than ever to the band’s music, an interested audience must surrender all the mundane ideas of the world and commit to being confused, blinded and suppressed by streams of unknown textual images.