Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Gotta say, I love the title, and I love the Beastie Boys, so I’m pretty much primed to love this film. I know some people got confused about whose pseudonym was “Nathanial Hornblower,” but let me assure you... this is not a Spike Jonze film. Instead, Adam Yauch is the man behind the nom-de-plume, and it’s the fans themselves who were behind the cameras. Hence the title. I’d love to be there for the Sundance premiere of this one in a few weeks, but for now, this review will have to do. Check it out:
If you dont know yet, the Beastie Boys made a concert documentary at their Madison Square Garden show on October 9, 2004... They gave 50 cameras to their fans who had tickets to the show, then gave them carte blanche to shoot the concert from their seats...
They titled the movie "Awesome: I Fuckin Shot That" and the doc is set to premiere at Sundance on January 21st in the Park City @ Midnight category...
I was one of those fans...
It is true, I indeed Fuckin' Shot That...
This past Friday, ThinkFilm, the distributor, and Oscilloscope Pictures, the Beastie Boys production company,invited us camera operators to a private screening of the film at TriBeCa Cinemas in NYC. Adam Yauch directed the film under the pseudonym Nathanial Hornblower and introduced the film at the screening.
Here is my review:
whats up gang...
tonight we had an amazing time at the camera operators screening. an online persona is one thing. in real life, these people were incredible, open minded, full of energy and enthusiasm, great people to meet and greet with... and we all got to talk with the editors, producers, and most importantly, Hornblower himself( I took a picture with him as he gave me his autograph, A photographer from the NY Times was there, they are doing an article in the Times Arts section(she didnt know if it will focus on the screening itself, or whether it is an article about Sundance)either way, they took a photo of me and Yauch and of all the camera operators that were there tonight.
now to the film... the post production effort that went into this made this a LEGENDARY film viewing experience. picture every music video they made over the last twenty years, and roll it up into one amazing night, the editing and visual effects were absolutely STUNNING...
SPOILERS AHEAD-
The movie starts with a crawl over the screen, at first the music from Scarface is playing and the crawl is telling the story of Fidel Castro and the Cuban migration in the early 80's... then another paragraph starts...
"regardless, on October 9th, 2004, the Beastie boys handed out 50 cameras...etc.etc.etc"
it was hilarious, from the opening sequence we knew this was going to make us laugh, cry, and maybe even have a seizure from all the quick cuts...
each song has its own vibe, its own visual theme, and the editors took a bunch of shaky footage and turned it into SOLID GOLD...
every technique the band has ever used, they utilized it for AIFST.. fish-eye, black and white,split screen, negative images, fast forward , even the Right Right Now Now technique, praying mantis Matrix style.
for those that wanted some backstage footage, you will not be disappointed. there is footage of the camera operators receiving instructions from Jon, the producer, and interestingly enough, the title of the movie was coined during that meeting. In the scene, Jon was telling us how excited the band was to do this project, then he says "you will be able to show this to your grandkids and say "Awesome, I Fuckin Shot That..."
there is great footage in between sets where the band is running through the Garden corridors before entering the crowd for Intergalactic... they are all packed like sardines in a tin in some elevator, with Musak playing in the background, juxtaposed with the INSANE crowd hollering for more. its quite funny. whoever said this movie was "aesthetically witty" was right on...
part of the opening sequence included an aerial shot of Manhattan over the beats of Open Letter, then it shows the band preshow , doing their best team huddle..."HIT THE OPEN SHOT, PLAY DEFENSE"
special appearances by DMC, Doug E. Fresh, Yauch's and Diamond's kids(adorable dancing moves), and most surprisingly of all, do not read if you dont want to know, BEN STILLER and CHRISTINE TAYLOR, they were there in the crowd and one of the camera operators filmed Ben singing WORD for WORD, then in the closing credits, the camera operators interviewed Ben and Christine... it was cool, they will be part of BEASTIE BOYS HISTORY...
as the closing credits rolled, each camera operator was listed in alphabetical order, including Adrocks brother Oliver...
Jon Doran and Adam Yauch introduced the film, MCA was munching on popcorn and deferred to Jon to start the movie...there were 120 guests in a theater that seated 130... there were wide seats for couples, so my lady and I were right in front of Doran and his girl...
what else can I say, this will BLOW YOUR MINDS, kids... and I am glad to share the info!!
Sure, the guy’s super-enthusiastic because his footage is part of the film, but so what? This reads like the film itself is a love letter to the fans of the Beasties, and a fascinating way of putting you in the crowd at one of their shows, exactly as a fan experiences it. Sounds great, and thanks for the review, man.
"Moriarty" out.
