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 You're
Gonna Miss Me
(2005. Kevin McAlester)
The life of legendary psych cult rocker Roky Erickson of the
13the Floor Elevators has always surrounded by cloud of myth
and mystery. His drug bust in 1969 presented him with a choice
of going to prison or being committed to a mental hospital,
unfortunately he chose the latter which left him even crazier
than when he went in, due to electro shock treatment and excessive
medication. Kevin McAlester's brilliant documentary doesn't
follow the usual path of rock'n'roll docus, there's not much
music in film which might disappoint many, it focus more on
his extremely dysfunctional family, his mental state nowadays,
the treatment policy of mental patients in Texas, and his
way to recovery which in the final reel of the film shows
him somewhat coming back to life while he plays a song on
his guitar. I rarely gets emotional when watching movies,
but that scene almost made me cry a happy tear for good old
Roky. We do see footage of old performances, and interviews
with Elevators members as well as rockstars telling how much
Roky meant and mean to them. "You're Gonna Miss Me"
is probably the strongest portrait of a lost musician I've
seen in my life.
A MUST SEE MOVIE!!!
Jens
 Dead
Brothers - Death Is Not The End (2005. M.A. Littler)
The Dead Brothers are one of the world’s strangest and
most unique bands that defies any simple descriptions, a feeble
attempt would involve an eclectic mix of gypsy jazz, blues,
folk, 20s medicine show music, country, funeral march music
with a touch of Cramps. Fans of Tom Waits, Kaizers Orchestra
og Asylum Street Spankers will cream their pants when they
check out their records on Voodoo Rhythm Records. Legendary
Shack Shakers on valium? The band is located in Switzerland
but is a very international ‘multi-ethnic’ combo
with Alain Croubalian (Armenian/Canadian), Pierre Omer (Greek/Swizz)
and Delaney Davison (New Zealand). This excellent docu reveals
their roots in the hippie/punk/anarchist movement. Visually
“Death Is Not The End” is pretty impressive; black/white
images tinted with colors, different landscapes to emphasize
the varied moods of the music, and for a change we get full
songs (with an audience and without) without any cuts. Even
though there’s a sadness to the songs and Alain talks
about his Armenian ancestors being wiped out, The Dead Brothers
also brings a quirky uplifting humor to the band, they’re
greatly inspired by French surrealists among other things.
They are serious about the concept of death in the western
world, “Death is taboo, nothing thinking about it is
slavery” sez Alaine, which also explains the title of
the film. The 90 mins docu is packed with covers like “Little
Things” (Townes Van Zandt), “Rambling Man”
(Hank Sr.), “Lonesome Day” (Woodie Guthrie) and
a scorching version of “Human Fly” by The Cramps.
Originals include “Dixon Lie”, “Closer To You”,
“I Can’t Get Enough”, Old Pine Box” and
“Just A Hole”. “Death Is Not The End”
is a great introduction the band, so try see the dvd or buy
their records if you’re looking for something else than
another 9th generation Stooges band.
http://www.slowboatfilms.com/
Jens
 The
Proposition (2005. John Hillcoat)
Yeah, indie darling Nick Cave wrote the story and made the
(excellent) score, but "The Proposition" is definitely
one of my fave movies of the 00's. The aussie western so is
bleak, violent, sadistic and nihilistic that old Peckinpah
would've creemed his pants. It's also much than 'just' a western
and a bloody revenge story that speaks volumes on the british
colonization of Australia in the 1900th century, bringing
rebel outlaws to justice and destroying the aboriginals and
their culture. It mostly takes place in the hot outback desert
which comes across as pure hell with the boiling heat. The
cast is outstanding with Ray Winstone as Captain Stanley and
Guy Pearce as Charlie Burns - two actors performing at the
top of their game. Danny Huston is effective as Burn's outlaw
brother, but John Hurt (NEVER been better) steals the show
in his two scenes. Winstone promise not to kill Pearce's kid
brother if he hunts down his older brother Danny Huston. The
cinematopgrapy is the best I've seen in years and the gory
FX are topnotch, there's a head exploding worthy of the first
"Dawn Of The Dead" film. I think Aussie films sometimes
get overhyped by the artcrowd but this is a bloody masterpiece.
I got curious when an eldery Swedish film critic said she
almost fainted in the theatre and condemned "The Proposition"
for being 'violence for the sake of violence". Forget
your CGI apes, this ugly motherfucker of a film is the shit!!!!
Jens
Boris DVD overkill
If you have a steady flow of releases coming from you, as
this Japanese trio does, experimenting in every which direction
with stoner rock, psych, avant-garde, pure noise, pure silence,
you might as well throw in a handful of live DVDs as well
for the hell of it, suppose.
But then, live appears to be the perfect element in which
to truly appreciate the sound of this band, as this is where
they let out all the stops, jamming hard, creating mountains
of noise to heap upon fragile melodies. That, and you get
to smirk at Wata’s Jimmy Page-style double guitar cum
bass proggy construction, that nevertheless allows him to
lay the groovy, jazzy bass melody lines under Katheshi’s
guitar feedback for the songs, and then fill in with even
more noise when it’s appropriate – which, in the
world of Boris, it almost always is. Lots of it, even.
If their latest album, “Pink” (reviewed elsewhere),
purportedly ranks among their most easily accessible work,
“Bootleg – Feedbacker”, which consists of just
a live recording of this epic song, “Shimokitazawa Shelter”,
and their contribution on the “Wizard’s Convention”
DVD give a pretty good impression of what to expect when they
play at Loppen on April 17th.
The “Heavy Metal Me” DVD shows a different side
of Boris: Apart from two live recordings, this one is made
up of three very arty videos set to two mostly quiet, Labradford/early
Mogwai-ish music that’s really beautiful and great for
yoga, where as the title track is what you’d call a picture
poem, fusing small scenes of indolence with poetry and the
music low, almost inaudible noise and wind, broken only momentarily
by some guitar strumming. Arty as fuck, but pretty.
Bootleg – Feedbacker DVD (Fangsanalsatan)
Heavy Metal Me DVD (Diwphalanx/Disc Union/Food United)
Shimokitazawa Shelter DVD (Diwphalanx/Disc Union/Fangsanalsatan/Food
United)
Wizard’s Convention DVD (Diwphalanx/Food United)
Jon A
 Sorority
Girl (1957. Roger Corman).
Susan Gabot is a psycho chick who makes life miserable at
the girl’s dorm at her college. This is rather tame even
for being made in the 50s; no drugs, no deaths, only 1 catfight,
1 suicide attempt and a light butt spanking (the film poster
promised a lot more). Corman vet Dick Miller and the amazing
artistic title sequence almost save the movie, almost.
Jens
 Gate
Of Flesh (1964. Seijun Suzuki)
After watching 3 of Seijun Suzuki's 60s yakuza films ("Branded
to Kill", "Tokyo Drifter" & "Youth
of The Beast") I was curious to see another side of the
director. The film company ordered Suzuki to make a naughty
'pink' movie, but instead they got a surreal pop art version
of Bunuel. You cant really compare Seijun Suzuki to anyone
but Seijun Suzuki. Every frame is fantastic, all scenes are
shot in a studio which gives the movie an (absurd) theatre
vibe, the combinations of colors are simply stunning. I've
never seen anything remotely like this. The sex and violence
is pretty extreme for 1964. "Gate Of Flesh" takes
a look at Japan just after WWII where anarchy reigns supreme
in the streets while hookers try to hustle the american GIs
for all their cash. The GIs beat the girls, the girls beat
the GIs, the girls whip other girls who are trying to move
in on their turf, all done pretty realistic, yet very surreal
at the same time.
Jens
 Edgeplay
- A Film About The Runaways (2004. Victory Tischler-Blue)
A rather fascinating but also rather sad docu on the great
girl rockers. Kim Fowley will NOT like it! Its made by bassist
Vicky Blue so for once they had some control, but that doesn’t
stop the girls from slagging off each others. Among the expected
tales of sex (with managers and each others), drugs, insanity
etc. I was mostly floored with Sandy West post-Runaways career
as a drug debt collector! She wasn’t afraid to pistolwhip
people if they couldn’t pay, one scary hardass lady.
Sadly only 2 original Runaways songs are in the film (problem
with copy rights?), the rest is by Lita Ford and Suzi Quatro
who makes an appearance. A good but not great rockumentary,
that’s even more depressing than “End Of The Century”.
Jens
 Portrait
Of Hell (1969. Shiro Toyoda)
Surreal poetic art horror drama based on a story by Ryunosuke
Akutagawa who wrote "Rashomon". Fans of "Kwaidan"
will love it although "Portrait Of Hell" is a lot
more political and deals in issues like racism. A corrupt
emperor of the 1400th century hires a Korean artist to paint
a picture of Buddha but instead gets paintings of atrocities
which becomes real after he steals the artist's daughter.
The artist also go insane and commit crimes of torture to
be inspired to the final painting of hell itself. The Italian
giallo mystery, "House With Laughing Windows" (1976),
used the same plot device. "Portrait Of Hell" is
basically a nightmarish Hieronymus Bosch painting come to
life. Highly recommended if you're tired of the same ol' by-the-book
horrorfilms The director previously made "Illusion Of
Blood" (1964), which is easy to get hold on but unfortunately
not in the original 190 min. Japanese version, but a western
one which only runs 90 min. Should be incredibly violent and
packed with gore and nudity in the original version.
Jens
Billy Childish Is Dead (2005. Graham Bendel)
The British cult rocker finally gets his own movie by first
time filmmaker Graham Bendel who’s loving portrait of
the musician, painter, and poet is insanely fascinating. Interviews
with Billy, fellow musicians (including an intoxicated Shane
MacGowan), art critics, filmmaker Larry Clark etc. are neatly
mixed with live stuff by Milkshakes, his blues solo thing,
Mighty Ceasars, Headcoats, and Buff Medways. Highly recommended
for Childish fanatics. The 90 min. dvd has ca. 45 min. extra
footage. Also watch ”The Genius Of Billy Childish”
(2 shows by Milkshakes and Thee Headcoats), also from Cherry
Red.
Jens
Blacksnake (1973. Russ Meyer)
This rare feature was a major big studio flop, and since it
doesn’t include Meyer’s usual parade of huge tatas,
hardcore fans sure ain’t too fond of it. I think it’s
a shame since this semi-serious tale of slavery in early 19th
century Carribbean has excellent cinematography, great acting,
plenty of sex and violence. At least as exciting as the notorious
”Mandingo”. Definitely worth a look.
Jens
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