Meeting People Sucks

I just finished watching the 1999 documentary film "Radiohead: Meeting People Is Easy." It was my second effort, the first having failed, a couple of years ago, at around the half-way point. The work has not survived the test of time; all that great opportunity to capture meaningful interviews and concert footage wasted by the filmmakers' desire to disconcert. What we're left with 10-12 years after its recording and release – though it may have been attractively edgy in its moment – is a painfully artsy filmic flagellation. (How's that for painfully artsy?)

If the film does capture something accurately, it's the immaturity and misery of a band that, in spite of those self-insufficiencies, managed to turn out some of the most important music of their generation; happily, whatever the band members' current emotional states may be, Radiohead is still doing the same. In spite of the documentary's shortcomings, one can't help but be amazed that such seemingly morose, disconnected young men were able to put together such persuasively moving music.

Now that I think about, away from the TV and writing, maybe the intentional disconnectedness of the film was appropriate. Here's a clip. Judge for yourself....

Intro only...

Institute Benjamenta

Tomorrow is the final day of this year’s Philadelphia Film Festival (now also known as Cinefest). I’ve been attending the festival annually for just about as long as I’ve lived in the Philly area, sometimes managing to squeeze in a dozen or more films in a little over a week. This year, I managed only two. The only one that really made an impact, was the 1995 film, Institute Benjamenta, the first live action film of renowned stop-motion animators, The Quay Brothers. At once incredibly artful and painfully artsy, it’s one of those films I feel I was supposed to like (or at least respect). Yet I had a hard time doing so in the moment, struggling to get through it on a late night after a long day of work. Nonetheless, images from the film and its overall feel have now been stuck in my head for days – something provocative filmmaking should achieve, I suppose. Here’s a clip of one of the film’s more frenetic scenes. It shouldn’t take long to get a feel for whether or not it’s for you.

Intro only...