SXSW10–When You’re Strange (2010)/Strummerville (2010)/Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil (2009)
The future is unwritten.
WHEN YOU’RE STRANGE
Directed by: Tom DiCillo
Written by: Tom DiCillo
Tom DiCillo hasn’t really been around in a while. The last film he made was Delirious in 2006, but I don’t even remember it coming out. It’s interesting that he chose to (sort of) come back with a documentary about The Doors.
I really don’t have to tell you the story of The Doors. Just about everyone on the planet knows about Jim Morrison and his decent into his eventual alcoholic death in Paris. We all also know all about Oliver Stone’s Dionysian fantasy of a film starring Val Kilmer as Jim. It wasn’t history (not really), but it was good entertainment.
So, what can Tom possibly have to say about The Doors and Jim Morrison that hasn’t already been said?
Not a lot, really. But he did it with a pretty amazing style. First, he eventually made the decision to tell the entire story with films that were made between 1966 and 1971 when Jim died. There are no talking heads and no new footage. That really confused some people at Sundance who thought that the framing films with Jim driving through the desert included a stand-in for Jim. What it actually was was footage from a film that Jim was working on with a friend that would lead to the song Riders On The Storm. The footage is Jim: surreal and beautiful. The cleaned up print, actually, is amazing. It looks like it was filmed yesterday.
He also had the foresight to get Johnny Depp to narrate the film, telling the real history of The Doors from inception to Jim’s death. Johnny is just as good at narrating films as he is as an on-screen actor. There are times when Jim does something stupid and you know that Johnny thinks it was stupid, too. The narration is almost sardonic at times, although there’s definitely an affection for the subject.
With the cooperation of Robbie Krieger, the film really tries to show both sides of Jim: Friend Jim and Crazy Jim. It tells of how Jim was a writing mentor to Robbie and a really good friend to all of them and how sad it was to see him degenerate into a wacked out, often incoherent lunatic. (One thing that they don’t say that they did in the panel is that the lyrics for the last couple of albums were often pieced together from Jim’s poetry because they couldn’t get him to write new ones for the songs.
This, most likely, is the last word on the legacy of The Doors. No more reissues, no more movies or documentaries are necessary. This is The Doors basically in their own words. A book would probably be a better way to get the full story across, but, as far as visual/aural media, this is it. It’s the best doc that I’ve seen about them and, while I really like Stone’s film (and so does Krieger), it is full of a lot of “stupid stuff” (Krieger’s words) that is more 60s fantasy than truth. See this film and you’ll know most of the story the way it actually happened.
Directed by:Don Letts
Joe Strummer was one of the more pivotal figures in rock history. He’s not as well known as Lennon or McCartney, but he probably did just as much to change where rock music was going as they did. The Clash, for a while, were absolutely “the only band that mattered.”
When Joe died in 2002, it looked as if the dream truly was over.
But a few friends and fans decided that it couldn’t be over. They put together enough money to start up a studio for underprivileged artists and kids who have the talent to get off the streets. If someone who happens to have something to do with Strummerville happens to hear them or hear about them, they could get pulled in to record. Hell, even if they don’t show any real talent, the crew will help them hone something that could help them out.
It’s an amazing service that is helping get kids off the streets and into the studio. Some great music is coming out of it, too, which is making at least a small dent in the British pop charts. Bands like Beans On Toast, Shatter The Hotel and The Riff Raff are gaining followings as I type. All of them were kids pulled off the street.
This movie really is the anti-Harry Brown. That film showed how violent the kids in London have gotten and really offers no hope to anyone except for people who fight back with violence. The kids, though, are screwed. They can’t be changed, only killed. It makes for a great vigilante film, but there’s not much hope there at all.
Strummerville shows us the real people behind that violence. These kids only know that violence, but many of them don’t want anything to do with it. They want out as much as they are wanted out of it. Strummerville is just one organization that wants to help them.
The movie itself is very much a PBS “inspirational” doc. It’s only about an hour long and seems very light and cheery with bright lighting and nothing very interesting visually. Anyone could have made it. Don Letts, though, is a great friend to The Clash and Strummerville. He made all of The Clash’s videos and, without them, he would be no one. He feels that he owes his entire career to them, and he’s probably right. He’s a very engaging fellow, too. He jumped down off the stage at the Paramount and had the Q&A among the audience. During the intro, I thought he was just a cocky dude who happened to make a movie. At the Q&A, I figured out that he’s just super-passionate about his work and the work that Strummerville is doing.
I can understand why, too. They’re doing a lot of good, a little bit at a time. It would be amazing if someone would do that over here. I’m sure that there are a lot of kids on the streets right now whose lives could be changed by something like Strummerville.
Directed by: Eli Craig
Written by: Eli Craig/Morgan Jurgenson
Now, back to the funny.
Tucker and Dale (Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine) are on their way to their vacation home out in the Appalachian Mountains. Unfortunately for them, a bunch of college kids are also on their way out there to camp, drink, smoke and have sex. When the two worlds collide, blood and body parts fly.
Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil shows the other side of the hillbilly horror genre. What if the hillbillies were just misunderstood and the kids kept accidentally killing themselves?
Apparently, hilarity ensues when that happens. The only kid with any real sense is Allison (Katrina Bowden). She hits her head while swimming and Dale rescues her, eventually falling in love with her. She finally understands that Tucker and Dale aren’t trying to kill her, but she just can’t quite get that point across to her friends.
Luckily, the other kids are all obnoxious people who, as characters, deserve to die, so seeing them impale themselves on sticks and throw themselves into wood chippers is hilarious.
As thin as the premise really is, the movie is pretty amazing. It does a great job of showing both sides of the story. Sure, we know that the hillbillies are good guys, but that doesn’t keep director Eli Craig from using creepy music and good storytelling to make us see them as creepy dudes when the kids see them.
It also really helps that Tudyk and Labine are awesome. Tudyk, especially, is hilarious as the smarter of the two who has a great line for everything that happens to them.
I fuckin’ loved this movie. It’s one of my favorites of the festival and, hopefully, it will find a really good audience when it’s released…eventually. I have no idea when it’s finally be released, but keep watching your favorite movie sites to find out.
