A new Burlington film series pairs silent films with live music

Vermont International Film Festival’s Musical Silents provides a new way of exploring an age-old medium.

By Grace Taylor, for the Community News Service

BURLINGTON — Black and white shots of a thief flashed across moviegoers’ eyes as they say, enveloped in plush red chairs. Pulsating guitar riffs and suspenseful drumming emanated from the right side of the theater, perfectly complementing the scene.

On June 10, Vermont International Film Festival presented “That Night’s Wife,” a 1930s Japanese crime drama directed by Yasujirō Ozu. The film is the latest installment of VTIFF’s Musical Silents series. 

Pairing silent films with live improvised music, the screenings have been a way to revive a classic art form. 

“It’s really amazing to watch these hundred-year-old movies with music happening right now in the moment. It’s really connected with people,” VTIFF executive director Steve MacQueen said.

The silent film era began in the 1890s and was characterized by the actors’ theatrical movements and exaggerated facial expressions. Although dialogue was not heard by the audience, the films were not completely silent. When silent films were at their peak, theaters often relied on pianists to play along with the film. In the 1920s, “talkies” brought an end to the nonverbal art form, but recordings of silent films retained the antiquated music. 

MacQueen, however, wanted to incorporate more modern music.

“People think you need old-sounding music to go with an old movie,” MacQueen said. “I think a lot of people don’t watch silent films because they think of them as old relics and artifacts, and a lot of that has to do with the music that accompanies them.” 

Musician Matt Hagen improvises the music at each screening, often bringing a special guest to accompany him. Hagen never watches the films before performing. Often after a screening, viewers ask the musicians how many times they’ve seen the movie before. 

“When I say that was my first time, you kind of hear this collective gasp,” he said.

Just as silent films are a constrained form of communication, Hagen limits his creative options, only bringing two guitars to each performance. 

“I don’t want to be distracted by all of these bells and whistles,” he said, noting that the special guest often serves as the added flair.

Well-versed in many genres, Hagen’s instrumentation brings a new twist to silent films. When his musical equipment malfunctioned at the screening of “That Night’s Wife,” Hagen thought, “Do I panic, or do I accept this situation?” He chose to pick up his Spanish guitar and began to strum. The instrument’s bittersweet tone ebbed and flowed with the film’s somber and dramatic moments.

Each genre presents different challenges for Hagen. “That Night’s Wife” begins with a suspenseful start, revealing the robber’s motive for committing the crime: to have enough money to care for his sick daughter. 

“I’m reacting in real time to what I’m seeing,” he said. Of the film’s sad twist, he said, “I just played the way I felt.”

As the film progressed, Hagen created themes for each character. A mournful melody filled the theater when the sick child came on screen, and a repetitive strumming emerged when the robber had encounters with the police. Each note felt intentional. Rather than focusing purely on sound, Hagen created a story with the instrumentation.

“I don’t know who’s going to get what theme and what that theme is going to be, but I do have that in mind as a typical practice of film,” Hagen said.

So much modern media is fast-paced and highly stimulating, and live improvised music helps people engage with the stripped-back quality of silent films. 

“Because they’re silent, the visual language is just amazing,” viewer Lee Hauslein said.

MacQueen tried to keep the films on the shorter side, given audiences’ limited attention spans. “That Night’s Wife,” for instance, ran only 65 minutes. Nevertheless, he believes that the more people become chained to their devices, the hungrier they are for analog refuges. 

“What people discover when they open themselves to silent films is how much they still have to say,” he said.

Catch the next Musical Silent, “The Golem,” directed by Paul Wegener, on July 8.