Between her formative years spent training as a fine artist and her increasingly ambitious and experimental forays into the world of music, there isn’t much that Illinois-born multihyphenate Laurie Anderson can’t do. Her latest film, “Heart of a Dog,” chronicles the real and imagined life of her beloved (and unfortunately now deceased) dog Lolabelle — the film was warmly received at both Venice and Telluride, and has been lauded as another peculiar and lyrical entry in Anderson’s increasingly unique body of work.
READ MORE: Telluride Review: Laurie Anderson’s ‘Heart Of A Dog’
In addition to her growing list of talents and disciplines, turns out Anderson’s actually a pretty decent conversationalist too, as evidenced by a new talk with “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan” director Darren Aronofsky recorded after a recent screening of “Heart Of A Dog” for The Talkhouse. Aside from a shared heart-on-the-sleeve emotional style, the two artists don’t share a whole lot in common as far as their styles or thematic preoccupations, but they nevertheless share a warm and easy rapport that makes for a fun, informative listen.
Neither Anderson nor Aronofsky spend a whole lot of time discussing their respective careers — instead, they lavish their dialogue on more mundane subjects like reading to their children, the hypothetical thought process of Herman Melville when he was writing “Moby Dick” and what exactly happens when you suck on a D battery. The two give the impression of being old friends, as well as having a sincere and mutual interest in the other’s work (that said, they don’t get too much in detail on that last subject here). It’s a neat little talk: Anderson remains a curious and beguiling presence in the fringe art world, and Aronofsky fans should get a momentary fix here as we all wait with bated breath for the Brooklyn-based director’s follow-up to his misunderstood Biblical epic “Noah.”
Listen to Anderson’s talk with Aronofsky below.
