Matthew Barney's films stand apart from his sculpture and installation work because he's declaring that it actually happened. DR9 isn't a sculpture in cinematic form (as I had originally used the phrase as a foothold for interpretation), there's an actual narrative.
The romance is certainly reminiscent of Eraserhead. Instead of succumbing to the vile detritus surrounding them as in David Lynch's masterpiece, Barney's (real-life) lovers are forced into the inevitable extravagance. I've read a little about traditional Japanese tea ceremonies and they're very similar. It's like the entire film is modeled on the tea ceremony, ritualistic and human, only more visceral, guttural. Barney hasn't lost his attention to the body and its various needs and functions.
The two are methodically invited, transformed, bred, and excreted. And we watch the whole process from the root to the fruit. It all happens in the presence of the most exquisite and illegal substance in the world, ambergris (of Moby Dick fame). The life cycle of humans and animals. Humans thrive in the presence of the most magnificent of them all: The Whale. And we don't even see one.
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