The DVD/CD set A Skin, A Night & The
Virginia EP positions
an hourlong documentary as the star of the show, but the album's worth of extra
music is what should ultimately sell it. A Skin, A Night was shot and directed by
French filmmaker Vincent Moon, who found Internet fame with a series of "Take
Away Shows" featuring bands playing stripped-down songs in unusual, intimate
settings—Arcade Fire in an elevator, R.E.M. in a car, The National around
a table. There's no denying he has an incredible eye and sensibility, but The
National recording the dark, elegant Boxer apparently didn't offer much story arc.
There are hints of tension and doubt, but mostly A Skin, A Night offers a pretty, artsy,
slightly boring hour of conversations, live performances, and recording
sessions.
The Virginia EP, on the other hand, makes
a good case for why anyone would want to make a movie about The National in the
first place. The band has been cresting for three years, and it's at a point
where even the demos, B-sides, and covers could switch places with singles, and
fans would be just as happy. "You've Done It Again, Virginia" would've fit
snugly on Alligator or Boxer: It's all molasses, smoke, and muted horns. It's
the first and best track on the 50-minute disc, which also gathers more
unreleased studio tracks, demos (a markedly different "Slow Show"), and even a
version of Bruce Springsteen's "Mansion On The Hill." It ends, as National
concerts do, with an epic version of the gorgeous "About Today," whose
transformation from sad and sorry to fraught and overwhelming perfectly
distills the band's swirling mix of light and dark.