Filmworks VI: 1996 features three scores for film by John Zorn. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 1996.[1] It features the music that Zorn wrote and recorded for Anton, Mailman (1996), a short film directed by Dina Waxman that was never completed due to loss of funding in its final stages, Mechanics of the Brain (1996) directed by Henry Hills and The Black Glove (1996), which was directed by, and starred, Maria Beatty.
Reception
The Allmusic review by Stacia Proefrock awarded the album 3 stars:
The three scores differed as much as the films for which they were intended. The tracks for Anton, Mailman are upbeat, swingy tunes that sound like they belong behind singing cowboys. The sections for the Henry Hills film are short, sharp, occasionally atmospheric, and definitely darker. And, perhaps most interestingly, instead of revisiting tired, old dungeon themes, the score for The Black Glove stepped even further into the realm of atmosphere by staying within only three sound reproductions: fire, water, and wind. The result is a soundtrack that evokes fear, discomfort, rest, and creepiness without rehashing the clichés of yore.[2]