La-La Land: 'Yesterday Was A Lie' CD

DVD Cover
DVD Cover

LA-LA LAND Records sent us the following about the sountrack CD for the independent sci-fi/psychological (literally) Noir thriller YESTERDAY WAS A LIE.
Songs are performed by Chase Masterson (STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE).
 

YESTERDAY WAS A LIE: LIMITED EDITION LLLCD 1163
Music by Kristopher Carter
With Songs Performed by Chase Masterson
Limited Edition of 1000 Units
STARTS SHIPPING FEB. 15th
RETAIL PRICE $15.98
ORDER “YESTERDAY WAS A LIE: LIMITED EDITION” FEB. 15th at www.lalalandrecords.com and get your CD autographed by composer Kristopher Carter, writer/director James Kerwin and star Chase Masterson. Autographs are while supplies last and are not guaranteed.
Presenting the original soundtrack to the acclaimed motion picture YESTERDAY WAS A LIE, starring Kipleigh Brown, Chase Masterson, John Newton, Mik Scriba and Peter Mayhew, written and directed by James Kerwin. Composer Kristopher Carter is renowned for his work with his Dynamic Music Partners team, who together composed the scores to the BEN 10 TV SERIES, BATMAN BEYOND, BATMAN: BRAVE AND THE BOLD, YOUNG JUSTICE, and TEEN TITANS among others.
Here, Carter fashions a sumptuously dark musical atmosphere for this inventive noir, perfectly complementing the film’s unique cocktail of intrigue, thrills, and earth-shattering cosmological secrets.
Cast member Chase Masterson brings heat to the spellbinding sonic mix with scorching vocal performances on the title song, as well as “He Won’t Forget You.” Also featured is “City Talks,” performed by Simon Shapiro. Produced by Kristopher Carter and James Kerwin, and mastered by James Nelson, this limited edition release features liner notes comments from writer/director James Kerwin.
TRACK LISTING:
1. Dream Time (5:08)
2. Nice Set (3:12)
3. Half-Deserted Streets (1:22)
4. Cat State (0:59)
5. Trauma Creates Ripples (3:22)
6. Yesterday Was a Lie (2:16)
Performed by Chase Masterson
7. Achromatopsia (2:43)
8. Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068: II. Air (1:42)
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach
9. Backdoor Research (1:33)
10. 6.626 x 10^-34 (3:56)
11. Ajna (1:51)
12. Fenestra Aeternitatis (2:24)
13. Synchronicity (1:32)
14. Aker (5:09)
15. Distillation (4:12)
16. Getting a Message Through (2:04)
17. Why Do You Keep Coming Back Here? (3:25)
18. Where Do You Start? (4:36)
Performed by Chase Masterson
19. He Won’t Forget You (4:35)
Performed by Chase Masterson, featuring  Simon Shapiro
20. Anima in an Elevator (2:28)
Bonus Tracks
21. Can You Help Me? (1:31)
(deleted segment from “Aker” – not included in motion picture)
22. City Talks (4:21)
Performed by Simon Shapiro
Total Time (65:22)
LA-LA LAND.COM SPECIALS:
“FEBRUARY $19.98 ACTION SALE!!!” Close out February with a bang! These 2CD-SET limited edition titles are only $19.98 each at www.lalalandrecords.com : INDEPENDENCE DAY, ALIEN RESURRECTION and THE FLASH.
Sale price starts 2/15/11 at 1pm (PST) and is good thru 2/28/11. Only at www.lalalandrecords.com
 

Yesterday Was A Lie (2009)

YEST_L_DVD
click to purchase

A Film Noir SF Parable
Took the screener DVD of YESTERDAY WAS A LIE for a spin last night—and a dizzying ride it was, indeed. The black and white film from writer-editor-director James Kerwin takes the form of a film noir detective story, but it’s really more like an extended discussion of ideas of time, causality, and reality.
We begin with Hoyle (Kipleigh Brown), who is some kind of detective. Police? Private Eye? It’s not clear at the outset, and expect no revelations on this subject as the film progresses. She’s looking for answers about an elusive theorist (John Newton) and a WWII-era notebook about researches into the nature of time.
Wearing my critic’s hat through the first 15 minutes or so of the movie lead to frustration, so I had to switch to a more passive viewer mode. Seeming inconsistencies and anachronisms increase and become more obviously intentional as the film moves along, as do numerous references to non-linear time, alternate realities, left/right brain theory, and memory.
DEEP SPACE NINE’s Chase Masterson (who also produced) plays a mysterious and nameless singer, a doppelganger for Hoyle, with a strong suggestion that she is really another aspect of the lead character. Information that she and others supply further questions Hoyle’s own point of view and independent existence.
Doppelganger or projection of the Anima?
Doppelganger or projection of the Anima?

Physics, Philosophy, and Jungian Psychiatry lie at the heart of this film, along with bits of T.S. Elliot. Which is one of YESTERDAY’s flaws: there’s too many ideas and theories, some of them (arguably) simplified and distorted to fit the movie’s premise: “The most powerful force in the universe lies within the depths of the human heart”.
While a valid artistic viewpoint, all of these items left me feeling at times that I was watching an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, padded out to feature length with a bunch of related and very interesting, but possibly non-essential elements. (For example, STAR WAR’s Peter Mayhew appears as a silent and menacing figure that adds to the noir-ish mood and performs one important action. Yet the character is nothing more than a device to provide those very functions, adding nothing of essential value to the storyline.)
What YESTERDAY lacks in the end is a powerful dramatic punch or emotional pay-off. There is a coda that suggests a balance has been reached (and could be read more than one way), but it’s not all that satisfying from a conventional standpoint.
Nonetheless, I enjoyed the movie. I found the actors attractive and engaging, and the photography is outstanding. Shot in high definition color video by D.P. Jason Cochard, it’s been regraded & desaturated into a beautiful approximation of that silvery, luminous way post-WWII pancromatic B&W film stock and lighting tends to looks onscreen.
So while I can’t recommend the film to the casual viewer looking for a fun Sci-Fi adventure, I think it’s very much worth watching by the SF fan looking for an interesting and challenging film experience.
The DVD contains a number of interesting bonus features, including an eight page preview of the YESTERDAY WAS A LIE graphic novel.
YESTERDAY WAS A LIE
Helicon Arts Cooperative
Available Now
Rating: PG
Running Time: 89 minutes
SRP: $24.98
www.e1homevideo.com
Catalog #: E1E-DV-6717