Swedish musician Jose Gonzalez is the subject of a new documentary called The Extraordinary Ordinary Life of Jose Gonzalez, which is now starting to be shown at festivals throughout Europe. It is a beautiful, sly and radically intimate documentary about the life and mind of musician Jose Gonzalez. The 74-minute film was directed by Mikel Cee Karisson and Fredrik Egerstrand and produced by Erik Hemmendorff for Plattform Produktion (Karisson has made videos for Gonzalez as well as Fever Ray, among others). Using video diary, surveillance camera, concert footage, tour documentation and animation, directors Karlsson and Egerstrand have given form to something as elusive as the creative process of one of Sweden's finest – and most secretive – musicians.
In the film we follow Gonzalez through scenes shot during work on his second album, In Our Nature. Through a diary, based on personal voice recordings, we follow his everyday reflections from thoughts on a photon's path from the sun to our eyes to Darwinism to the struggle to write songs. Exploring universal themes such as loneliness, boredom and isolation, The Extraordinary Ordinary Life of JoseGonzalez gives us insight into one person's attempt to manage and understand his own existence. It was shot over a three-year period on location in Sweden, Japan, Singapore, United States, South Africa, England, Chile and Argentina.
Director Karisson says: "There is something absurd, fascinating and beautiful in our attempts to find meaning in our existence. With The Extraordinary ordinary life of Jose Gonzalez, we wanted to give form to the personal artistic process. How personal reflection and everyday fragments of life shapes our input and output." - You can view the trailer here
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