SXSW11-Upside Down/Beats Of Freedom/Self Made/Tell Your Friends!
You’re my Wonderwall.
UPSIDE DOWN: THE CREATION RECORDS STORY (2010)
Directed by: Danny O’Connor
When you hear BritPop, you think of the obvious bands: Oasis, Blur, Pulp, The Verve, etc.
Well, only one of those bands was on the label that basically created that sound: Creation Records. Started by Alan McGee and Bobby Gillespie in the mid-80s, they signed bands like Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, The Jesus And Mary Chain and TV Personalities. After all of that success, they finally exploded with the signing of Oasis. Then, just as they were on top, they folded.
Danny O’Connor gives us the story of their rise and fall and really managed to make me want to hear all of this music again…or most for the first time.
My only complaint would be that subtitles might be nice because some of their accents are VERY thick. That may be a part of the charm, though, because a lot of the people (even Brits) say that they could hardly understand a word that Alan said. After about 15 minutes, though, I started to get the hang of his Scottish brogue and picked up most of what he was saying.
It’s an amazing story of music, money and drugs. Lots and lots of drugs. Totally worth seeking out when it comes out on DVD in May.
Directed by: Leszek Gnoinski/Wojciech Slota
This movie proves that the best and most interesting art comes out of pain and anguish.
Throughout the 20th Century, Poland has gotten the shit end of the stick. From the Nazis to the Communists, they’ve been under the thumb of plenty of regimes that were only out to punish the people. And, although they weren’t truly allowed to fight back, they found ways to push against the machine. Much of that push was through music.
The first protest song from Poland was in the 60s, but it was sort of an anomaly. Most Polish music of the time was inoffensive love songs. Then, sometime in the late 70s, things changed. With bands like Manaam, Brygada Kryzys, Republika and Dezerter, the young people of Poland found their outlet. At a yearly festival called Jarocin, they found the outlet en masse to fight against the Palace Of Culture, a gift from Stalin to the Polish people…a gift that they didn’t want.
I know my 80s music and I love a lot of 80s pop, rock and punk. I had never heard of any of these bands and I think that they may be some of the most exciting bands of that or just about any era. The absolute rebellion against everything that was happening in Poland informed everything they did and made their music that much better than it probably should have been.
The movie is a bit scholarly in its approach and definitely a European production. It reminds me a lot of some of the BBC docs that I’ve seen, where the interviewer is part of the story…and he always holds a pen. That didn’t detract from the story or the music, though. This may be the best movie that I see all festival, if only because it showed me something that I’ve never seen before…and gave me something else to look for when I’m perusing the record shops. Although, I’m sure these records are pretty expensive.
Directed by: Gillian Wearing
Written by: Gillian Wearing/Leo Butler
The Method is a school of acting where you take your past and put it into the part that you’re playing. You use this to make your acting more genuine and real. You basically embody the character that you’re playing.
Artist Gillian Wearing decided to take seven regular folks, teach them The Method and then make them act out their worst fears. He and the acting teacher, Sam Rumbelow, chose these seven people out of hundreds because they had the most interesting stories and the most potential for…well, basically breaking down on camera.
Out of the seven, only six actually made it into the film and only five are really featured. Those five have had horrible lives and feel horrible about themselves. The filmmakers exploit their pain to make a really involving film about The Method and the way we use our own experiences to live our lives.
The only problem I have is that they kind of make it seem like only people who have a lot of pent up pain and anguish can really act. I know, I know. I said just above that the best art comes out of pain. BUT, I don’t think that this really pertains to acting. I sort of think that anyone can act if they have the right teacher.
Rumbelow was a great teacher, but I wonder if he could teach someone who didn’t break down in front of him.
Check this one out if you get a chance. It may actually make you think about your own life. What pain could you find if you used The Method?
TELL YOUR FRIENDS! THE CONCERT FILM! (2011)
Directed by: Victor Varnado
A few years back, a movie called The Comedians Of Comedy played SXSW, and it was good. I don’t know anyone who didn’t like that movie. I’ve seen half of it and thought it was pretty hilarious. (I had to be somewhere halfway through, else we would have finished it. I plan on watching the whole thing at some point soon.)
That same year (I think), The Aristocrats played. It was, to me, even funnier.
The problem with movies about comedians, though, is that comedians think that they’re hilarious even when others don’t, and I think that’s the main problem with Tell Your Friends!
Tell Your Friends! is actually a show that happens every week in Brooklyn. A bunch of comedians, headed up by Liam McEneaney, go to a little theatre and basically try out new jokes on a very small crowd. Sometimes, they hit. Sometimes, they don’t. According to these guys, it can be just as much fun when they don’t.
Unfortunately, I think they chose a “don’t” night to record for posterity. Some of these folks have a lot of potential to be very funny. With a little work, Reggie Watts could be on his way to some really good Andy Kaufman-esque stuff. (The music that he came up with onstage was more impressive than it was funny.) Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler could be hilarious if they could stop being so irritating.
The more established comedians who are interviewed didn’t really seem to have a lot to add to the proceedings. They’ve all worked there and love doing their shows to such a small crowd. But, please, someone tell me when Colin Quinn has ever been funny. STOP INTERVIEWING HIM ABOUT COMEDY! HE DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT!!
Janeane Garafalo, on the other hand, I want to take to dinner so that I can feed her a sandwich. She’s gotten incredibly skinny over the years. Still very funny, though.
Not the best stand-up movie I’ve ever seen. Nowhere near. It’s not a total loss, though, and I think a lot of other folks liked it more than I did. So, who knows? I could be wrong.
