Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with another Sundance report, this one covering 3 documentaries and one feature. Apparently the feature was pretty bad... walk out bad. I'm curious to hear more from ROOM to see if it's really as typical film festival flick as Blue Gecko thought it was. In the mean time he has nothing but praise for ROCK SCHOOL, UNKNOWN WHITE MALE (about a guy that loses all his memories and relearns what food tastes like, what water feels like, etc) and NEW YORK DOLL about punk icon Arthur Killer Kane (this film Blue Gecko already thinks is the pick of the fest, which is one of the best recommendations he can give considering the amount of positive reviews we've gotten from this year's fest). Here's hoping we see these docs in our arthouse theaters or at the very least on the dvd shelf at your video store of choice!
Hi, Quint! I'm sending this to you, since you seem to
be posting the majority of Sundance stuff.
Long-time reader, first-time writer. This is my third
time going to Sundance and each year I?d think of
writing in to you guys; now I?m actually taking the
plunge.
Pre-festival, it's difficult to get any reliable buzz
on a film - if the film hasn't been screened before,
you can pretty much only make judgements based on who
is involved in making those films. You see, the
write-ups in the Sundance publications make everything
look good, but I've been burned badly too many times.
Now I feel like EVERY write-up I read sounds like the
film is total crap and they're just making up excuses.
(Too bad really, it made me miss out on such greats
as In America and The Machinist!) So I've picked the
safer road of going documentary-heavy this year.
First off, I saw a revamped print of Harlan County,
USA (1977 Oscar winning documentary) from the Sundance
Collection which, if you haven't seen, you should
check out (available on DVD). I've also seen
Murderball, a film about the sport of quadriplegic
rugby. It was a perfectly good documentary, but I'll
focus my write-up energies on other films.
ROOM
The only feature film I?ve (sort of) seen so far has
been this agonizingly boring film that I honestly just
gave up on and walked out of. ?Julia Barker, an
over-worked, middle-aged Texas woman is haunted by
psychic visions which drive her to New York in search
of the Room.? I stole that from IMDB because I didn?t
care enough to actually write a plot outline myself.
For starters, the director didn?t seem concerned about
putting any effort into lighting this film. The film
quality is also as crappy as they come. With those
strikes against it, you?ve got to have an interesting
story to tell to make up for it, or to justify what
might be an intended bleakness. Instead, it moved at
the pace of a snail. I just didn?t care. There were
a group of happy-drunk people behind me who talked
loudly the entire movie. (NOTE: People, don?t go to a
film festival drunk off your ass, it?s just lame.) I
was going to tell them off, then realized I had no
interest in seeing this film anyway. So half-way
through I left and ducked into a shorts program to
kill time instead.
ROCK SCHOOL
I see this has already been reported on, so I?ll say
that I agree with everything the reviewer, Castor,
stated on this one. This is one of those wildly
entertaining documentaries, easy to watch with plenty
of laughs and engaging characters.
I?m sure the filmmakers wanted to name this ?School of
Rock? (It IS about the Paul Green School of Rock,
whose website is www.schoolofrock.com) but of course
there was the Jack Black film that ?stole? the title
and even the concept. I got the impression during the
Q&A that the filmmakers were more than a little
annoyed about that, but I personally think it will
only help the film since people are now acquainted
with the idea of rock-n-roll instruction for kids; the
marketing campaign will practically write itself.
One of the biggest challenges for the filmmakers was
getting the rights to use the rock songs in the movie.
As it turned out, Eddie Van Halen was a real jerk and
wouldn?t let them use a smokin? riff that CJ (the
prolific 12-year-old guitarist) performed while, at
the other end of the spectrum, Black Sabbath was
awesome and gave them free reign on their whole
discography. In the end, song accessibility helped
shaped the direction the movie took and, I think, made
it a lot more interesting by not having the most
obvious bands or songs highlighted (ie AC-DC,
Aerosmith). I?d never heard a Frank Zappa song in my
life, but the concert in Germany was a huge highlight
of the film. These kids are immensely talented and it
will be very interesting to see what happens to them
after they get out into the real world.
There are plans to open more Rock Schools nationwide:
right now there are a cluster of them in
Pennsylvania/New Jersey, one in San Francisco, and a
branch will be opening next month here in Salt Lake
City, of all places!
UNKOWN WHITE MALE
This documentary has a great setup: a man, sitting in
a subway train near Coney Island, suddenly realizes
that he has no idea who he is. He has no ID on him,
only a backpack full of a few hodge-podge belongings,
giving little clue to who he is. He turns himself
into police, ends up at a hospital, and the story
grows from there.
Rupert Murray, the filmmaker, is a friend of this man
(who, it turns out, is named Doug Bruce) who knew him
for 10-15 years prior to his memory loss. They
basically have to start their friendship all over as
they become reacquainted through making the film.
Doug's memory loss actually ends up being a lot harder
on his friends and family than it is on himself; after
all, HE doesn't remember what his relationships used
to be like. Remarkably, he is able to shrug off a lot
of issues that you would expect would come with losing
your memory, and just focuses on building a new life
for himself.
What I liked about this film, besides its wonderful
and very unique premise, is that the director,
approached this film artistically (there?s some very
beautiful cinematography in it) and really conveyed
the sense of this man?s terror at realizing his memory
was gone, and his utter joy at rediscovering the
world: he doesn?t remember what food tastes like, what
music sounds like, how the waves of the sea feel on
your legs, and what it?s like to be in love. While I
certainly wouldn't want to lose my memories, it seems
that Doug is able to get a second chance at life
without baggage, without regrets, and with a lot more
introspection than he had before.
The film raises some fascinating questions: Are we
simply a sum of our past experiences? Or is there
something more unchanging within us, a core being, a
soul (or whatever you want to call it), that will
survive a complete memory wipe? Watch and decide for
yourself.
NEW YORK DOLL
The festival isn?t quite ½ way over, but I feel like
I?ve seen my favorite film already, and that would be
New York Doll - and to think, I was considering
skipping this film so I could get another hour or two
of sleep!
The New York Dolls was the original cross-dressing
glam punk band of the early 1970s that started the
whole movement, influencing everyone from the Ramones,
to the Clash, to the Sex Pistols. This film is about
the bass guitarist, Arthur ?Killer? Kane. When the
band went belly-up, he eventually ended up in Los
Angeles, hit rock bottom, and then in the late 80s
converted to the Mormon Church. When the film begins,
Arthur is living a life of limited means, renting a
small apartment and taking the bus to his job at the
church family history center. He?s even pawned his
guitars, where he?s paid $175 a year for a decade or
so to keep the shop from selling them, where he could
just pay $250 and get them back for good (but then he
never has $250 at once, so that hasn?t been an
option). He has the slightly burned-out demeanor of
someone who lived hard
and partied hard in his youth (rampant alcoholism and
glue-sniffing, I believe), and though he talks about
the Dolls with a sense of melancholy and yearning, he
comes across as a mild-mannered, even sweet person
that could never be wholly discontented.
After 30 years, the New York Dolls are finally getting
back together for a reunion bash in London, put
together by Morrisey. Even though this is what Arthur
wanted for so long, there are plenty of wary emotions
since he and lead singer David Johanson have some
pretty bitter feelings lingering after all these
years. The filmmakers were allowed to sit in on all
their rehearsal sessions, as well as have full
backstage access, and there are some great moments
that are captured on film. Several other rockers are
interviewed as well including, remarkably, the evasive
Morrisey himself. When asked at the Q&A how they were
able to have access to all these people, the director
said that basically they just mentioned Arthur's name
- he is so revered among the punk/rock community that
these people wanted to do anything they could for him.
(Morrisey said that the Dolls were THE band that had
the greatest influence on him as a kid.)
There are some laugh-out-loud hysterical moments in
this film that I don't want to give away, most of them
involving his Mormonism (how he describes his
conversion, seeing him hanging out with sweet old
ladies at the family history center, why he chooses
the outfit he does for the rock concert). But the
film is ultimately very bittersweet and I was quite
moved -- The dramatic arc in this film is one that a
feature film screenwriter would envy. It isn't really
about the Dolls or punk music or even Mormonism - so
if you have no knowledge or interest in those things,
you should still see this. It's really a personal
look at a fascinating individual who is able to
finally get some things squared away in his life after
many years of being haunted by them.
So definitely full marks to this film from me! I
haven't heard if this film has been picked up, but I
really hope it gets a distributor - it definitely
deserves one! As I watched the film, I was hoping
that Arthur would be there at the Q&A afterward.
But....uh, he wasn't. Also, the director said that
they have footage they didn't use for the film of
David Johanson (who's still a pretty hard-core glam
rocker) singing a couple of Mormon hymns. I'm hoping
that will get dumped on a DVD as a special feature,
because that would be priceless!
Thanks for posting this (if you do) and I'll send in
an update in a few days with some new films.
-Blue Gecko
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