Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Telly Alert. #009:
Second Hand Stories (PBS, check your local listings!)
S/FJ wants you to watch this. Seems like a reasonable request. I enjoyed Wilcha's The Target Shoots First (this is supposed to air again on the Sundance Channel sometime this fall; DVD in '04).
Here is Mike D'Angelo's review:
"As noted below, I don't usually review movies that I see on video, but I'm willing to make an exception for movies that were shot on video, and doubly willing in the case of a personal-essay film as thoroughly engaging as Wilcha's account of his time as a drone in Columbia House's marketing department, circa the 'Alternative Explosion' of 1993-94. It's not as incisive as it might have been -- what thematic interest there is exists almost entirely in Wilcha's retrospective voiceover, rather than in the footage itself -- but you still get a sense of how absurdly ugly it can be when a corporate monolith attempts to harness rebellious energy for commercial gain, plus a cautionary tale of good intentions that unexpectedly backfired. But I'm making it sound all heavy and angst-y, when in fact it's funny as hell; Wilcha's co-workers, mostly disaffected artist-types, have a sarcastic aside for every occasion ("May I call you 'Ooo'? For 'Oh Omniscient One'?"), and it's a blast watching a group of snot-posed punks revamp a catalog feature called 'More Music Now' into 'More Music Mao.'"
posted by Linus |
5:53 AM
|
|
|
|
|
