Over the years, I've seen a lot of films at film festivals -- some crappy, but some very, very good. Many of these films never make it into general release, or if they do, it's months or years later. Although most eventually come out on DVD, that, too, can take, well, forever.
I saw a handful of music documentaries at SXSW in the last two years that I'm jonesing bad to see again. One is Stephen Kijak's Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, which I saw and reviewed last year, and the others are Grant Gee's Joy Division and Julian Schnabel's film of Lou Reed's Berlin, both of which I saw this year.
Joy Division is fortunately out on DVD, and I just ordered it from Amazon. I'm not absolutely sure how this film would come across to someone who didn't live through the Joy Division years, but it's unquestionably one of the best music docs I've ever seen. It was directed by Scott Walker alum Grant Gee, one of the other best music docs I've ever seen. Although the two are stylistically worlds apart, they do share intelligence combined with heart but without sentimentality -- trust me, a very rare combo. It contains footage I've never seen before, and in-depth interviews with the late Joy Division founder and lead singer Ian Curtis' wife, girlfriend, bandmates, managers, and friends. I just checked my notes on the film, and I'm somewhat surprised that I never reviewed it at Club Kingsnake; I meant to. I guess I'll just wait until the DVD gets here, and do it then.
But speaking of DVDs, for the other two films I'm SOL. I know Scott Walker is supposed to be in the works, but I emailed filmmaker Stephen Kijak the other day asking for an update on that, or a theatrical release, and he hasn't gotten back to me. The film's blog hasn't been updated since January. Update: Fall '08 theatrical release in major cities!
Of course, I doubt the fact that I'm in agony will make this process move any faster, but I decided to post this and see if I could turn up the heat.
Which brings us to Lou Reed's Berlin. Supposedly it had its theatrical release last week, but I can't find show dates and times for it anywhere, and the film's website is crazy hard to figure out. And the DVD is due out in September. I realize that's just a few weeks away. But it feels like forever.
I'm not actually willing to stop seeing movies at festivals just to avoid this problem. At least I've seen these films, which is more than most of my friends can say. It's just... having had them... I miss them. Hurry up, everyone!
Comments