Willem Breuker 'Time is an Empty Bottle of Wine'

The contrary composer and bandleader Willem Breuker does not really need to be understood, even by himself. He prefers to remain the enfant terrible of Dutch jazz. A title he has held since 1966, when his anarchistic performance at the Loosdrecht jazz festival heralded the end of music, according to the papers. Filmmaker Johan van der Keuken, for whom Breuker has been recording nearly all soundtracks since 1967, is still overwhelmed by Breuker’s maniacal style of playing. An organ grinder who is studying a composition for his barrel organ summarises it as follows, ‘That man is either a madman or a genius’. In the road movie Time is an Empty Bottle of Wine, director Netty van Hoorn follows Breuker and his ten-man Kollektief, touring across the United States and Europe. She also interviews him at home, where in his ‘nursery’ some five hundred compositions are stored. Of course, the film is accompanied by a superb soundtrack, varying from avant-garde noise to popular gaiety. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)