The Monks – The Transatlantic Feedback (2006)

A pretty by the numbers documentary about an underground band. Band forms, works against odds and in front of indifferent crowds (or highly devoted but marginalized crowds), creates innovative but under appreciated music and then implodes only to reform in front of the cameras for one last show.

I will watch this documentary everytime, no matter who its about. It’s fun and comforting. Here are the Monks: formed by a group of GI stationed in Germany during the Vietnam war.

Their cynical and caustic brand of thumping Beat music was a fiery as anything the Sonics ever put to wax. Billed as “the Anti-Beatles” and playing songs like “I Hate You”, this is as punk as it comes pre-1975. They rock the clubs and dives of Germany, have Svengali managers, pal around with Pop Artists, employ a look and sound the Hives mined years later, and implode before ever playing the United States.

With the help of the highly influential Nuggets comps, they have become a cult group. A missing link of 1960’s punk. The history of the group is meticulously recounted by the surviving members and fans (both in the States and in Germany), and their reunion in the early 00’s is covered.

I would recommend this to anyone with a love for Garage Rock, or Punk Rock, or things like that (Dead Moon fans, I’m talking to You). I liked it, thats for sure. It’s Monk Time!

Marjoe (1972)

Marjoe Gortner was a child Evangelical Preacher in the 1950’s, where at the age of four performed his first wedding ceremony. He came from a long line of Evangelical Preachers and was groomed early, the archival footage of which will make your hair stand up. In his teens he became disinterested in the church and disillusioned with his parents (and his earnings disapprearing) he went into religeous retirement.

Then in the early 1970’s he decided (as a dope smoking, free-loving, long haired non-believer) that he would go out on the revival tent circuit strictly to earn money. And he brought a camera crew.

The results are in a word: Amazing.

His performaces are astounding, he is really good in front of a crowd. Singing, praising, faith healing, chanting down Babylon and such. And then you get to see him back at his hotel room counting out his money and talking about what he really believes spiritually and how he draws inspiration for his sermons from Mick Jagger.

Marjoe is very charmismatic. It’s why this documentary works, and how he got away with this in the first place. Another major force in this films favor is that it is very well shot. The camera work and editing feels very modern and savvy for the time. And as mentioned before, the archival footage of him preaching as a child is astounding. Real David Lynch type shit, and I realize that sounds like a lazy description, right up there with “….its like blah blah blah, On Acid!”. But for real. Feels like Blue Velvet.

The energy in the audiences and the music during the revivals is totally infectious. I don’t think this American experience exists today, so thank goodness this got put down on film. Even as an Athiest, I love a good Gospel tune. And seeing Marjoe give the churchgoers exactly what they want and then take off the persona like a jacket at the end of the day didn’t seem particularly unethical to me. He isn’t making fun of them, and he certainly isn’t taking any more advantage of them than another preacher who really “believes”.

Marjoe went on to act in such films as “Food of the Gods”, “Starcrash” and “Earthquake”.

This won the 1973 Academy Award for best documentary, for good reason.

Away We Go (2009)

The story of an intellectual but quirky couple (Jim from the Office and Maya Rudolph from SNL) in their early thirties who live in a trailer in the woods. They find out in quick secession that they are expecting a child, and that Jims parents are moving abroad. So they decide that they want to start fresh somewhere new….ROADTRIP! They head out on the American road to discover what “home” means to them.

Yeah, that corny. But this isn’t a total waste of time.

Their relationship is realistic and cute and you really root for them to be happy. The couples they meet along the way (some old friends and acquaintances) are really funny and perfectly cast. Maggie Gyllenhaal is hilarious as the new-age earth mother, Allison Janney and Jim Gaffigan are awesome as the boozed out dysfunctional family, Jeff Daniels and Margret O’Hara as Jims Parents-very funny. There is good stuff in here, but it just never soars, and the subject matter really demands that it does or it just kinda falls flat and feels dull (and even worse: predictable).

The soundtrack is spotty too, Velvets, George Harrison and then some dude that sounds like Nick Drake was just too expensive. Also, if they live in a trailer with no heat, how do they afford to fly around the country at the drop of a hat? Also, I was feeling very target marketed by this one. If you’ve ever touched a copy of “The Believer” this one is all up in your grill.

It’s a perfectly adequate rom-com for the Juno fans out there, but no rush.

The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose (2006)

Documentary covering the extensive, drugged out career of psych-folk freaks The Holy Modal Rounders (a full band, but centered around the duo of Steve Weber and Peter Stampfel). Over the span of about 45 years they fight, fall out, take drugs, ignore each other, one cleans up (in a kinda burned out hippy way) the other stays “freaky” and eventually shoot for a reunion. How legit is their hippy cred? They were on the Easy Rider Soundtrack and signed to ESP-Disk (home to Sun Ra, the Fugs and other travelers of the interplanetary expressways).

This is why I’ll never watch “A Mighty Wind”: these men are beyond anything Christopher Guest could ever pull off. If one of these guys walked in you would think it was way too over the top (both in song and behavior). Their particular brand of freak-folk spiked with passive-aggressive confrontational whimsy isn’t quite my cup of tea, but whatever.

Really these two guys have the classic love/hate artistic collaboration. Volatile and neither seems to recognize the power of being the others foil. Watching them bicker isn’t much fun.

I found myself wanting to know more about the people on the sidelines, dudes from the Fugs, long suffering band members, and strange acquaintances that show up at gigs. This longing may have come from realizing that I was being made uncomfortable with the duos dynamic. Neither is squeaky clean, but Weber just seems like a guy you would Hate to be in a band with. Wasted, bored, bitter, showboater, egomaniac who thinks he’s hilarious. Like your Fathers buddy you wish would go home.

That said, I would recommend this for Holy Modal Rounders, Christopher Guest and “Some Kind of Monster” fans. That’s most people, I guess.

I Love You To Death (1990)

This should really work, a capable director (L. Kasdan of Big Chill and Body Heat), top notch cast (Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, River Phonenix, William Hurt, Joan Plowright, Keeanu, Heather Graham and on and on), but it just all kinda falls apart. Mostly in the hamfisted hands of Kevin Klines horrible “Eh-tall-ian!” accent. Embarrassing.

The plot is that he is a terrible cheater and when his wife finds out she tries to kill him, and then her friend tries, and her Mother tries, then some drugged out dudes try. And no one succeeds. But he learns a lesson!

Filmed in Tacoma, with the druggie would-be assassins (William Hurt and Keeanu) hanging out in the Teapot.

It’s not without its moments of charm, but this is what wasted potential looks like. Too bad.

Until The Light Takes Us (2008)

A documentary on the infamous Scandinavian Black Metal Scene of the early 90’s. If you’ve read Lords Of Chaos (recommended), you know the score and if you haven’t (I don’t know why you’d be seeing this, but!) here’s the deal: A group of angry men form bands, put on King Diamond/KISS make-up (”Corpse Paint”), hang out in basements, commit murder, suicide, arson and occasionally put out records of some brutally caustic sounds.

The inevitable infighting of such a volatile group of people means that of the main three bands of this scene (Mayhem, Burzum and Dark Throne), you have three men in jail for murder and arson, two dead and one functioning band still active. Their nihilistic ideology involve Norse Paganism, Nationalism, Homophobia, and Anti-Semitism. None of this is questioned or criticised in this film, it is simply put in front of the viewer without comment (and is therefore complicit). There is almost nothing about the 2nd and 3rd (or whatever) waves of Black Metals bands that have come since these seminal groups, instead focusing on the innercircle looking back at what happened and why and the media explosion that followed.

We mostly follow the leader of Dark Throne (who is not in jail) around Scandinavia while he complains that Black Metal is now a fad and full up with poseurs.

It is occasionally funny, but mostly interesting from a anthropological standpoint. The filmmakers passive approval of the shady politics (and the complete lack of any mention of the harsh racism inherent in the scene) made this kind of a bummer. This was made by and for fans, it is fairly well made, but not necessarily recommended. I appreciate that this is a sound that completely embodies its environment, the way that Stax/ Volt sounds like Memphis, the way that the Melvins sound like the Pacific Northwest, or Fela Kuti sounds like Lagos.

Blast of Silence (1961)

Dark low budget Noir from the early 60’s. Mostly narrated (brilliant and poetic) it follows an assassin as he goes about starting a job at Christmas time in NYC. He slowly begins to lose his nerve and decides this job will be his last.

As the title clearly states this film is about silence: firstly he is looking for a handgun with a silencer to use in the killing. Secondly the narrator is heavily used as our protagonist doesn’t talk much. There is plenty happening below the surface, but he only speaks when spoken to for most of the film. He follows his target (a mob underboss), he haggles with the gun dealer (who collects rats) and falls for a girl he knew from the orphanage.

Real bleak, tight and moves quickly. Short too, like 70mins or something. I like a movie that doesn’t fuck around.  You get the strong impression that Coppola and Scorsese both saw this in film school (echos in “the Conversation” and “Taxi Driver” are glaring).

heres the first minute and a half, check out this narration! Bonkers.

McQ (1974)

It seems the idea here was to have John Wayne be a Dirty Harry type character in Seattle instead of San Francisco. From the lack of sequels you can guess at how the results turned out.

Here McQ is a kind of super-cop who gets ears deep in a drug stealing/smuggling deal and the force isn’t approving of his no bullshit style of police work. He slaps and kicks hippies, is out for revenge for his slain partner, kinda wants to bone his partners widow, kills on sight, drives fast, trades “skag” for information, gets kicked off the force and goes to work for a detective agency, and on and on. 1970’s cop cliches abound. Muscle car, highballs of scotch, snitching pimps, the works.

It is way, way too long. But it is shot in Seattle, so I was easily distracted by sightseeing. You feel bad for John Wayne when he has to run, thats a drawback for an action film. And he’s clearly drunk in many scenes. Seriously, dude was 67 years old when this shit came out and only a few years off from dying of cancer. I mean, fuck.

John Wayne always make me think of this:

Inferno (1980)

Dario Argento’s Inferno is supposed to be a sequel (loosely) for Susupira. It does share the bright red walls and electric blue windows, sweet sythny score and a plot that has to do with curses and witches and such. But, really thats about it.

Here a young lady finds a book about a series of haunted/cursed buildings and the “Three Mothers” who inhabit them and are wicked evil. She shoots off a letter to her brother about it and everyone who comes in contact with the book or her letter meet a terrible death. Beheadings, getting stabbed in the neck, rats, more stabbings, fire, strangulation. The works. The Three Mothers are not stoked on this book being found or their evil houses being walked around in. The film really works up to a crazy climax.

Now, this has to be one of the more non-linear (read: CRAZY mess) horror movies I’ve ever seen, and it is gorgeous. Lots of great lighting, and editing. Now, the soundtrack by Keith Emerson may attract some prog types, but in my book: Emerson is no Goblin.

There is a scene where a  guy stuffs a cat into a bag of other cats to drown, and I was pleased when he got his real nasty-like down by a river (by a random character who is never seen or referenced again!). I’ve heard that Argento was sick with hepatitis during the shooting and had to direct while laying down, and that legendary Italian director Mario Bava (Black Sunday, Planet of the Vampires and tons more) was in charge of some effects and of the 2nd unit.

I would recommend this to “art house” horror fans and lovers of Italian film, but not to gorehounds looking for genuine scares. Its a lot of fun to look at.

Rear Window (1954)

I have seen Rear Window more times than I am really sure about. I lost count, is what I mean to say. It is easily one of my top ten films of all time, and my personal pick for Best Hitchcock Film Ever (no small feat).

Jimmy Stewart is a successful photo-journalist who has broken a leg in the line of duty (photographing a car crash) who has been in a cast for seven weeks, Grace Kelly is his glamorous (big stretch) girlfriend. As he has been laid up in his apartment for almost two months he has become quite interested in the lives of his neighbors surrounding the courtyard outside his window. Did I mention that there is a heatwave going on? And it’s in NYC (real Do the Right Thing kinda feeling).

We stay with him stuck in the apartment, we see only what he sees, and his stir-crazy vibe and desperation for something interesting to happen is muddied when one of his neighbors begins to behave in very strange ways. His wife disappears, he takes late night trips out of doors, smokes in the dark staring out the window. The brilliance is that at first we are introduced to all the characters in the courtyard and the meat of the plot could follow any of them. They are all up for grabs, and even when we follow the man who possibly killed his wife, we still follow the other neighbors as they continue to go on about their odd little lives.

The case for his neighbor is flimsy and mostly built on paranoia and hunches. Not that you think he’s wrong, its just that none of it would hold up in court, but the brilliance of the movie is that it draws you in and puts you firmly on its side. It’s also a love story, it is a meditation on voyeurism, it is a rethinking (for the time) of what the audience is allowed to know/see. Seriously, the film is about 100 mins of watching a man watch his neighbors out his window, and it rules.

Flawless performances all  around, Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly,  Raymond Burr, and the entire supporting cast. Flawlessly directed, lit, edited. This one is for the books. Referenced by the best: Spike Lee, the Simpsons, Brian DePalma, Roman Polanski, “the ‘burbs”, and on and on. A fucking five star classic.