LEVIATHAN
by Jerry Saltz



Matthew Barney backlash is in full force -- at least in the art world where mood swings and short attention spans are the rule. In the wider world, there have been glowing reviews of Drawing Restraint 9, Barney’s latest megamillion-dollar two-and-a-half-hour film set on a Japanese whaling ship and starring Barney and his love interest Björk, who at the film’s cannibalistic climax turn one other into sashimi. Art-world word of mouth has not been kind: Descriptions have included "God awful," "tedious," "self-indulgent," "misguided," and "incomprehensible."

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