Floydian Slip (https://www.floydianslip.com/news/2019/09/review-roger-waters-us-them/), three weeks ahead of its release last night in cinemas across the world. Further screenings are to come over the next few days – details of when and where at RogerWatersUsAndThem.com (http://www.rogerwatersusandthem.com). A piece of key advice for you, if you are going to see it in a cinema this week: don’t leave during the titles – there’s an absorbing, additional documentary looking at the show, and the rehearsals of the music, which follows on. Anyway, with thanks to Floydian Slip, here’s Ed’s report… The intersection of beautifully crafted sound and footage combined with director Sean Evans‘ ability to turn an action-packed, live performance into an atmospheric, ethereal experience raises the bar for concert video. Recorded during a series of June 2018, Amsterdam performances, Roger Waters: Us + Them is so exquisitely constructed it emancipates the film from traditional and repetitive templates employed in comparable efforts: the music takes center stage as the expression of ideas Waters and the audience wish to converse about unfold in an exchange between the twain: it takes a talent of Evans’ caliber to capture that. This film documents that dynamic with great cinematic power. Within the film’s first couple of minutes, the crisp and brutally visceral sound of clapping thunder blends seamlessly into the sound of artillery, garnishing footage of a child sitting on a shore (part of the storylines that run on the background screens during the live performance). This brief introduction segues into the visual of Roger Waters taking the stage. In that brief convergence of audiovisual elements Evans manages to bewitch the audience, realigning their senses for an unusually gripping concert documentary. The audience plays a central role in this film. It is never veiled in a sea of black. Instead, its interaction with the artist is central to the story and its voice is accentuated by the colors that flood the arena as this emotive call and response transpires.
