Metric Concert and Some Documentaries (One of the Best I've Seen)
Saturday night, Lauren and I went to see Metric at the State Theatre (with The Box Tiger as the opening act, who were pretty decent, and reminded me a little bit of Yeah Yeah Yeahs). I've been into Metric for years, since I first discovered them working at the Bates College radio station about 13-14 years ago. They didn't really play much of their old stuff, and I mean, they have 5-6 decent albums into their career. This show definitely focused more on their most recent stuff, the material that's made them popular, which is a smart move on their part. They've been one of the opening acts for Paramore's stadium tour this fall, so it was really great to see them as the main act, because as you can tell, they were able to play a lot more stuff and the crowd was there to see them.
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Film 325
"A Band Called Death"
starring: Bobby, Dannis, and David Hackney, Kid Rock, Henry Rollins, Alice Cooper, ?uestlove
directed by: Mark Christopher Covino and Jeff Howlett
This is probably one of the best (music-related) documentaries I've ever seen. It has so much heart, so much life. It has humor. It has emotion.
It's about a little-known punk band in the 1970s in Detroit that consisted of three African American brothers. They were a band called Death (unheard of back then, since this all takes place 2 years before the Ramones hit the scene in New York). In fact, ?uestlove says it, "This is the Ramones, but two years earlier." Well said. Death was punk before punk was punk. And their story is beautifully told, thanks to the directors.
"A Band Called Death" is a portrait of the good fortune and recognition that can come your way if you just stick around long enough. But it also delves movingly into the bittersweet feelings that come from being a pioneer, someone who is right before it is time. It tells what it's like to withstand a decade of professional rejection, followed by two decades of total silence, and what it's like to endure unimaginable loss.
This is a must-see film, which I again missed when it was viewed at SPACE Gallery only a few months ago. It quickly found its way into my heart while I was watching it and it might find its way onto my list of favorite films of the year. Do yourself a favor, especially if you have a family you care deeply about (re: siblings)...watch this film.
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Film 326
"Hit So Hard"
starring: Patty Schemel, Courtney Love, Eric Erlandson, Melissa Auf der Maur, Kurt Cobain
written and directed by: P. David Ebersole
I might have liked this documentary about the now-infamous 1990s Hole drummer, Patty Schemel, solely for its archival footage of those grunge days with Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love and the rest of the Hole crew, because I absolutely loved Kurt Cobain for years and was as immersed in the Seattle grunge scene as I could have possibly been all the way across the country, on the East Coast and in Maine. The archival footage of a happy Kurt Cobain, especially when he's with his infant daughter (before his death), is absolutely fantastic. But, I'm a biased viewer.
That all being said, "Hit So Hard" sort of plays out like an extended version of "Behind the Music" with the focus this time on a lesser seen band member: the drummer.
We get into Patty Schemel's history starting with her difficult childhood spent as a lesbian punk outcast who found refuge in drugs and alcohol. We follow her narrative through her volatile time with Hole and the seemingly crazy antics of Hole's frontwoman and female-musician-icon Courtney Love. She truly was absolutely ridiculous sometimes, but also very interesting. The story's not about her, though, even though, her interviews and time on the screen certainly make you think she has to make everything about her.
Schemel is a compellingly candid presence, humorously reflecting on the irrational psychology of her former strung-out self, but Ebersole is so busy flittering from one point of interest to another that Hit So Hard never coheres into anything other than a collection of rock-star clichés: drugs are initially fun, then lead to "dark," destructive places; the music business, and fame-seeking singers, are cutthroat; survival involves a combination of luck, strength, and love. Love's treacherous decision (encouraged by producer Michael Beinhorn) to not have Schemel record on 1998's Celebrity Skin is barely examined. And that is one of the best, most interesting pieces of Schemel's musical history. I looked up the producer Beinhorn, and he seems like a complete douchebag. Just saying.
The art of drumming, Schemel's pioneering success playing a traditionally male-handled instrument, and her adolescent difficulties as a lesbian are potentially rich topics that receive short shrift, with Schemel's influential place in female-drummer history relegated to a talking-head montage during the end credits. Live clips capture the raw, unbridled power of Schemel's musicianship during Hole's glory years, but otherwise, Ebersole's use of pointless and gimmicky aesthetic devices (split screens, black-and-white effects, fades) is as clumsy as his film's nonfiction storytelling is scattershot. The filmmaker's also missed a great opportunity to dive into more behind the scenes by not providing the could-be highly entertaining bassist Auf der Maur. She seemed to breathe life back into the band after the tragic death of original bassist Pfaff's overdose death (which had a major effect on Schemel, in particular).
Leaving the band as it was clearly in disarray anyway seemed to be the best choice for Schemel, because as we see at the end of the film, her life is clearly better off.
This is clearly a documentary for hardcore fans only.
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Film 327
"The Skeleton Key"
starring: Kate Hudson, Peter Sarsgaard, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt
directed by: Iain Softley
Here's a movie that I've sort of avoided for a few years, especially after seeing the previews when the film first came out. It was one of those previews that tried to sell you on the film's scariness, but also you felt like you'd seen all the "good" parts from just watching the preview. And after watching the film, I can say, if you see the preview, you're not missing much from avoiding the entire film. Sure, it has a decent and interesting story behind it, but then, the script and filmmakers seem to go to great lengths to explain all the anomalies and loopholes or hard-to-believe facts inside the story. Knowing that, the film's success depends on atmosphere shock, and superstition. It takes place on a creepy plantation house in the dreary Louisiana bayou.
Kate Hudon plays Caroline, a nurse that quits her hospital job and takes on a job as a private care giver, thanks to help from her friend who mentions it to her. She quickly meets a lawyer named Luke (Sarsgaard), who seems weird and like he has some connection to the rest of the story, which will soon reveal itself. His clients are an elderly couple (Rowlands and Hurt). The husband, Ben, has had a stroke and cannot take care of himself. He can't even talk. Caroline takes on the job, despite her reservations upon her first introduction to the elderly couple and their creepy home. She soon gets a skeleton key (hence the title of the film) which opens every door in the house. Except, there's one door it won't open. Of course. It's the room in the attic (cliche, creepy setting ensued). There's a local history that Caroline gets taught by her friend. It's a history that involves Hoodoo (American folk magic that includes incantations, conjurations, herbal remedies). It's not a religion, so to speak. It's almost worse than that. And the house seems to be involved in this local history, as Caroline also learns from the elderly woman, Violet (Rowlands).
"The Skeleton Key" is an entertaining film for an audience. It's about the journey, not the destination, even though the ending of "The Skeleton Key" really is a zinger. It's just that -- well, what did a lot of the other stuff have to do with anything? How do all the omens and portents and unexplained happenings connect? And what's the deal with Hoodoo? It doesn't work unless you really believe in it, we're told, but if you really do, it really does. Considering what happens when you do, I think it's better if you don't. Besides, I believe things either work or don't work whether or not you think they can.
I could have done without watching this film, but it worked as an entertaining time-filler. Otherwise, I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.
....................................................................
Film 328
"Girl Model"
starring: Ashley Arbaugh, Nadya Vall
directed by: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
I watched "Girl Model" on Netflix after missing a viewing at SPACE Gallery. After watching it, I got the depressing feeling that this is the Russian model industry's version of "Waiting for Superman" (which is a depressing look into the charter school lottery fight/system here in America where kids are the pawns in a seemingly political battle of wills and wits). "Girl Model" helps shed the preconceptions of the modeling industry and really cuts through any ideas you may have had. The directors decide to follow one 13 year old(!) Russian girl, named Nadya; and a modeling talent scout, named Ashley (a former model, herself, who knows the business and yet seems to participate in the perpetual cycle of chew-and-spit out these young girls).
The directors begin the film by setting the stage for how depressing the story will inevitably be as we follow Nadya. We meet Nadya at a Siberian cattle call (almost literally) as the young girls looking to break into the modeling business by getting looked over, criticized, and rejected or accepted to move on to the next stage. Nadya is among all these girls, probably in the 100s. She is crowned the winner of a modeling contract. She gets a cheap-looking tiara, but more importantly, the opportunity to model in Japan under a contract that guarantees she will make money. Of course, the underlying reason for Nadya trying out is because her family is in need of the money she is going to make, hopefully.
A pretty but diffident girl with wide-set, wide-open blue eyes, her innate dignity and self-possession makes her seem a little older than her years, but she looks alarmingly vulnerable as she heads to the plane and even more so when she lands to find nobody there to meet her, expected to find her way to the agency in an enormous city whose language she doesn't speak. It's a rude entry, and a good indication of just how little the people now in charge of her destiny care about her emotional or physical well-being.
Meanwhile, the shifty-eyed thirtysomething scout, Ashley, slowly comes into focus, thanks in part to well-chosen excerpts from a video diary she kept during her own modeling years, including a stint of her own in Japan. Ashley talks self-pityingly about her hatred of modeling and her chagrin at being stuck in this industry, as though she had no choice but to exploit other girls the way she was exploited herself—or worse, since she at least made enough to buy a shelter magazine-ready glass house in Los Angeles. In contrast, the most flagrant abuse Ashley's prospects experience is financial: One after another goes home with none of the cash they were promised, loaded down with $2,000 of additional debt the agency claims they're owed.
This film really makes you look at all the advertisements with unnamed/nameless fashion models differently or at least think critically (re: I'm not talking about the Kate Uptons or Cindy Crawfords or Kate Mosses of the fashion world, who somehow managed to not necessarily be taken advantage of like these young girls in Russia). Are they from poor, desolate families? Are they in debt and way in over their heads? Are they starving? Are they lost? Are they homesick?
This is not an uplifting documentary at all. There's really no happy ending, like you'd expect one, anyway. Regardless, it's quite an eye-opening film and definitely worth watching.
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Film 325
"A Band Called Death"
starring: Bobby, Dannis, and David Hackney, Kid Rock, Henry Rollins, Alice Cooper, ?uestlove
directed by: Mark Christopher Covino and Jeff Howlett
This is probably one of the best (music-related) documentaries I've ever seen. It has so much heart, so much life. It has humor. It has emotion.
It's about a little-known punk band in the 1970s in Detroit that consisted of three African American brothers. They were a band called Death (unheard of back then, since this all takes place 2 years before the Ramones hit the scene in New York). In fact, ?uestlove says it, "This is the Ramones, but two years earlier." Well said. Death was punk before punk was punk. And their story is beautifully told, thanks to the directors.
"A Band Called Death" is a portrait of the good fortune and recognition that can come your way if you just stick around long enough. But it also delves movingly into the bittersweet feelings that come from being a pioneer, someone who is right before it is time. It tells what it's like to withstand a decade of professional rejection, followed by two decades of total silence, and what it's like to endure unimaginable loss.
There was the little problem of the name of the band, a huge turnoff to record executives, producers, and pretty much everyone else. Arista Records offered them a deal, but only if they changed the name. David turned Arista down. Bobby and Dannis were furious; they both were willing to change the name, but David refused, and that was pretty much the end of Death.
The rejection got to Bobby and Dannis: they were rejected for the name of the band, rejected for the fact that they were black boys playing "white boy music", rejected for the sound of the music itself which didn't "fit" at the time. For 35 years, the master tapes made by United Sound (the Detroit studio which recorded them) sat in an attic collecting dust. Bobby and Dannis moved to Burlington, Vermont, forming a reggae band which had some success, and David stayed in Detroit, writing songs, and drinking too much. One of his brothers says, "He was one of those genius types. The demons get to you." This documentary almost plays out like a love-letter to their fallen/absent brother, David, much like the other recent documentary "Pearl Jam Twenty" plays out like a love-letter to Andrew Wood (founder of Mother Love Bone) and how without him their would have never been a band called Pearl Jam. I cried while watching that documentary, and I definitely teared up, but also found myself grinning as Death was reincarnated 35 years later, thanks to the sons of the original members. The band, Death, got to live out their dream of touring briefly, albeit without their brother David.
This is probably the best way to put the entire film: "With all of its sadness and its sense of loss, "A Band Called Death" is a vibrant celebration of family."
This is a must-see film, which I again missed when it was viewed at SPACE Gallery only a few months ago. It quickly found its way into my heart while I was watching it and it might find its way onto my list of favorite films of the year. Do yourself a favor, especially if you have a family you care deeply about (re: siblings)...watch this film.
.................................................................
Film 326
"Hit So Hard"
starring: Patty Schemel, Courtney Love, Eric Erlandson, Melissa Auf der Maur, Kurt Cobain
written and directed by: P. David Ebersole
I might have liked this documentary about the now-infamous 1990s Hole drummer, Patty Schemel, solely for its archival footage of those grunge days with Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love and the rest of the Hole crew, because I absolutely loved Kurt Cobain for years and was as immersed in the Seattle grunge scene as I could have possibly been all the way across the country, on the East Coast and in Maine. The archival footage of a happy Kurt Cobain, especially when he's with his infant daughter (before his death), is absolutely fantastic. But, I'm a biased viewer.
That all being said, "Hit So Hard" sort of plays out like an extended version of "Behind the Music" with the focus this time on a lesser seen band member: the drummer.
We get into Patty Schemel's history starting with her difficult childhood spent as a lesbian punk outcast who found refuge in drugs and alcohol. We follow her narrative through her volatile time with Hole and the seemingly crazy antics of Hole's frontwoman and female-musician-icon Courtney Love. She truly was absolutely ridiculous sometimes, but also very interesting. The story's not about her, though, even though, her interviews and time on the screen certainly make you think she has to make everything about her.
Schemel is a compellingly candid presence, humorously reflecting on the irrational psychology of her former strung-out self, but Ebersole is so busy flittering from one point of interest to another that Hit So Hard never coheres into anything other than a collection of rock-star clichés: drugs are initially fun, then lead to "dark," destructive places; the music business, and fame-seeking singers, are cutthroat; survival involves a combination of luck, strength, and love. Love's treacherous decision (encouraged by producer Michael Beinhorn) to not have Schemel record on 1998's Celebrity Skin is barely examined. And that is one of the best, most interesting pieces of Schemel's musical history. I looked up the producer Beinhorn, and he seems like a complete douchebag. Just saying.
The art of drumming, Schemel's pioneering success playing a traditionally male-handled instrument, and her adolescent difficulties as a lesbian are potentially rich topics that receive short shrift, with Schemel's influential place in female-drummer history relegated to a talking-head montage during the end credits. Live clips capture the raw, unbridled power of Schemel's musicianship during Hole's glory years, but otherwise, Ebersole's use of pointless and gimmicky aesthetic devices (split screens, black-and-white effects, fades) is as clumsy as his film's nonfiction storytelling is scattershot. The filmmaker's also missed a great opportunity to dive into more behind the scenes by not providing the could-be highly entertaining bassist Auf der Maur. She seemed to breathe life back into the band after the tragic death of original bassist Pfaff's overdose death (which had a major effect on Schemel, in particular).
Leaving the band as it was clearly in disarray anyway seemed to be the best choice for Schemel, because as we see at the end of the film, her life is clearly better off.
This is clearly a documentary for hardcore fans only.
..................................................................
Film 327
"The Skeleton Key"
starring: Kate Hudson, Peter Sarsgaard, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt
directed by: Iain Softley
Here's a movie that I've sort of avoided for a few years, especially after seeing the previews when the film first came out. It was one of those previews that tried to sell you on the film's scariness, but also you felt like you'd seen all the "good" parts from just watching the preview. And after watching the film, I can say, if you see the preview, you're not missing much from avoiding the entire film. Sure, it has a decent and interesting story behind it, but then, the script and filmmakers seem to go to great lengths to explain all the anomalies and loopholes or hard-to-believe facts inside the story. Knowing that, the film's success depends on atmosphere shock, and superstition. It takes place on a creepy plantation house in the dreary Louisiana bayou.
Kate Hudon plays Caroline, a nurse that quits her hospital job and takes on a job as a private care giver, thanks to help from her friend who mentions it to her. She quickly meets a lawyer named Luke (Sarsgaard), who seems weird and like he has some connection to the rest of the story, which will soon reveal itself. His clients are an elderly couple (Rowlands and Hurt). The husband, Ben, has had a stroke and cannot take care of himself. He can't even talk. Caroline takes on the job, despite her reservations upon her first introduction to the elderly couple and their creepy home. She soon gets a skeleton key (hence the title of the film) which opens every door in the house. Except, there's one door it won't open. Of course. It's the room in the attic (cliche, creepy setting ensued). There's a local history that Caroline gets taught by her friend. It's a history that involves Hoodoo (American folk magic that includes incantations, conjurations, herbal remedies). It's not a religion, so to speak. It's almost worse than that. And the house seems to be involved in this local history, as Caroline also learns from the elderly woman, Violet (Rowlands).
"The Skeleton Key" is an entertaining film for an audience. It's about the journey, not the destination, even though the ending of "The Skeleton Key" really is a zinger. It's just that -- well, what did a lot of the other stuff have to do with anything? How do all the omens and portents and unexplained happenings connect? And what's the deal with Hoodoo? It doesn't work unless you really believe in it, we're told, but if you really do, it really does. Considering what happens when you do, I think it's better if you don't. Besides, I believe things either work or don't work whether or not you think they can.
I could have done without watching this film, but it worked as an entertaining time-filler. Otherwise, I wouldn't go out of my way to see it.
....................................................................
Film 328
"Girl Model"
starring: Ashley Arbaugh, Nadya Vall
directed by: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
I watched "Girl Model" on Netflix after missing a viewing at SPACE Gallery. After watching it, I got the depressing feeling that this is the Russian model industry's version of "Waiting for Superman" (which is a depressing look into the charter school lottery fight/system here in America where kids are the pawns in a seemingly political battle of wills and wits). "Girl Model" helps shed the preconceptions of the modeling industry and really cuts through any ideas you may have had. The directors decide to follow one 13 year old(!) Russian girl, named Nadya; and a modeling talent scout, named Ashley (a former model, herself, who knows the business and yet seems to participate in the perpetual cycle of chew-and-spit out these young girls).
The directors begin the film by setting the stage for how depressing the story will inevitably be as we follow Nadya. We meet Nadya at a Siberian cattle call (almost literally) as the young girls looking to break into the modeling business by getting looked over, criticized, and rejected or accepted to move on to the next stage. Nadya is among all these girls, probably in the 100s. She is crowned the winner of a modeling contract. She gets a cheap-looking tiara, but more importantly, the opportunity to model in Japan under a contract that guarantees she will make money. Of course, the underlying reason for Nadya trying out is because her family is in need of the money she is going to make, hopefully.
A pretty but diffident girl with wide-set, wide-open blue eyes, her innate dignity and self-possession makes her seem a little older than her years, but she looks alarmingly vulnerable as she heads to the plane and even more so when she lands to find nobody there to meet her, expected to find her way to the agency in an enormous city whose language she doesn't speak. It's a rude entry, and a good indication of just how little the people now in charge of her destiny care about her emotional or physical well-being.
Meanwhile, the shifty-eyed thirtysomething scout, Ashley, slowly comes into focus, thanks in part to well-chosen excerpts from a video diary she kept during her own modeling years, including a stint of her own in Japan. Ashley talks self-pityingly about her hatred of modeling and her chagrin at being stuck in this industry, as though she had no choice but to exploit other girls the way she was exploited herself—or worse, since she at least made enough to buy a shelter magazine-ready glass house in Los Angeles. In contrast, the most flagrant abuse Ashley's prospects experience is financial: One after another goes home with none of the cash they were promised, loaded down with $2,000 of additional debt the agency claims they're owed.
This film really makes you look at all the advertisements with unnamed/nameless fashion models differently or at least think critically (re: I'm not talking about the Kate Uptons or Cindy Crawfords or Kate Mosses of the fashion world, who somehow managed to not necessarily be taken advantage of like these young girls in Russia). Are they from poor, desolate families? Are they in debt and way in over their heads? Are they starving? Are they lost? Are they homesick?
This is not an uplifting documentary at all. There's really no happy ending, like you'd expect one, anyway. Regardless, it's quite an eye-opening film and definitely worth watching.
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