DVD Review: BIG STAR: NOTHING CAN HURT ME (2012)

BIG STAR: NOTHING CAN HURT ME (2012) 

Label: Magnolia Releasing

Region: 1 NTSC

Rating: PG-13

Duration: 111 Minutes

Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 with Optional English SDH, French and Spanish Subtitles

Video: 16:9 Widescreen (1.78:1) 

Director: Drew DeNicola

Big Star: Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens,
Chris Bell and Andy Hummel

My introduction to the music of Big Star came in 1997 while tuned into Radio Limbo 103.3 FM - a pirate radio station here in Tucson, AZ late one night when across my speakers came the sublime slice of pop "September Gurls" which floated across the room and into my ears, it was love at first listen and the next day I bought both "#1 Record/Radio City" and Third/Sister Lovers" and never looked back, they're that kind of band, once they get their hooks into you your snagged, for life. 

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (2012) is a touching portrait of the power-pop rockers Big Star who emerged from Memphis music scene in the early 1970's following the break-up of The Box Tops when singer Alex Chilton met singer-songwriter-guitarist Chris Bell. The fated meeting soon spawned Big Star who were born in the belly of Ardent Studios as a recording project. Truly something magic happened during those early sessions and the result was a classic first album, the ironically titled '#1 Album'. Big Star created gorgeous pop songs with a unique guitar sound and tone, heart melting harmonies and poignant lyrics that were at once naive, cynical and seemed to divulge simple truths about love and life, a very honest album. 

While the album received critical acclaim it was a commercial failure. In a way it reminds me of the trajectory of The Velvet Underground who were never a commercial success but as legend has it everyone who heard VU started a band, Big Star definitely went onto influence a great number of bands including Elliot Smith, R.E.M. and The Replacements just to name but a few.

Alex Chilton

The doc tells the story of the studio magic, the tumultuous relationship of Alex Chilton and Chris Bell and their separation following the first albums commercial failure.  We follow their disparate paths following '#1 Record' as Chilton continues the band for two more albums while Bell attempted to secure a solo record deal. It's both inspiring and heart-breaking, particularly the story of Chris Bell, a seeker who dabbled in drugs in search of spirituality who passed on in 1978. Through the story we come to realize that Bell was sort of the soul of the band and when he and Chilton reunite on the Chris Bell solo single "I Am the Cosmos" years later the results are eerie and beautiful.  

We have a wealth of early pictures of the band, stories from the studio from the surviving band mates Jody Stephens and Andy Hummel, the Bell family, radio interview with Chilton, studio techs and producers, rare studio outtakes and vintage performance video of Big Star, Alex Chilton, The Cramps and Panther Burns, plus testimony from musicians (Stephen Drodz of the Flaming Lips, Ken Stringfellow of The Posies, Mike Mills of R.E.M., Robyn Hitchcock, Cheap Trick) and critics (Lester Bangs,  which attest to the profound influence of the music Big Star music and legacy. The film follows up to it's logical conclusion, the 1993 reunion of the band and subsequent touring on through to Chilton's 2010 death and the touching all-star tribute to the band's legacy at the South By Southwest. 

This is a documentary with a lot of re watch value, one of the best music docs of the past few years. It's right up there with the phenomenal A Band Called Death (2012) doc which tells the story of early 70's Detroit proto-punk rockers Death, which if you haven't seen it is streaming on Netflix as is the Big star doc. 

Chris Bell

DVD: Magnolia Picture's DVD presents the film in the original anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio and it looks solid. Sourced from varying images and interview segments, vintage photos and video clips, and press clippings the images, of varying quality, flow to comes through wonderfully with a nicely balanced English language Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Optional English SDH, Spanish and French language subtitles are provided. 

Onto the special features we have a mini treasure cnsisting of ten minutes of deleted scenes that center on the band's touring from '72-'74 plus two featurettes  focusing particularly on Chris Bell and Alex Chilton, the making-of the third album is quite interesting as are the New York years.  There's also a featurette of behind-the-scenes super 8mm, studio outtakes and commentary on the in-studio experience from Ardent Studios alum who were on hand for the '#1 Record' and "Radio City" sessions, it's great stuff and the audiophiles will be delighted as they talk about the unorthodox recording methods the band used to capture their specific sound and guitar tones in the studio, the science of the recordings, loved it. 

DVD Special Features: 

- Deleted Scenes (10:32) 

- Chris Bell (18:32) 

- Alex Chilton (24:08)

- Big Star in the Studio (15:13) 

- Trailer (2:22) 
- Magnolia Trailers: Good Ol' Freda (2:21), Black Fish (2:25), Prince Avalanche (2:20), A Hijacking (2:02) 

Verdict: A gorgeous documentary that fans of Big Star will adore and the story so captivating that I imagine the uninitiated will be drawn into the soulful pop music, and that's a wonderful thing. Big Star are a seminal band right up there with Velvet Underground, one of the unsung heroes of pop music in the 1970's and this doc is a truly moving document of a band that just got lost in the shuffle during their time but have since gained a cult following through the decades and it continues to grow. 4.5 Outta 5  

Review: BIG BAD WOLVES (2013)

BIG BAD WOLVES (2013)

Distributor: Magnolia Releasing

Video: 16:9 Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Audio: Hebrew with English Subtitles 
Directors: Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado
Cast: Lior Ashkenazi, Rotem Keinan, Tzahi Grad, Dov Glickman, Menashe Noy, Rami, Dvir Bebedek

BIG BAD WOLVES (2013) comes to us from demented duo of writer/directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado who first popped up on my radar with RABIES (2010), a nasty slice of bloodbath cinema with a dark streak of humor. 

The duo's latest is a kidnapping thriller that touches on some pretty dark subject matter. A deranged sicko is abducting, raping and dismembering young girls, the staged bodies are discovered minus their heads and with the toenails removed, it's a stomach churning nightmare scenario for any parent to even contemplate. The prime suspect is a religious studies teacher named Dror (Rotem Keinan), but with no actual evidence against him other than suspicion a desperate detective (Lior Ashkenazi) attempts to illicit a confession with brute force but fails. The incident of police brutality is captured on video and posted on YouTube and in the aftermath rogue detective Mickey (Lior Ashkenazi) is relieved of his position and Dror loses his teaching job when parents protest the suspected child killer's employment. 

Enter a desperate father named Gidi (Tzahi Grad) who mourns for his daughter, a victim of the child killer. Gidi is out for revenge and  he and the vigilante detective uncomfortably join forces, kidnapping the suspected predator and strapping him to a chair in a basement in an effort to squeeze a confession through whatever means necessary, no matter how repulsive.

They really put the screws to Dror, the torture sequences had me squirming in my seat, it's pretty uncomfortable stuff. So it's pretty dark but then there are moments of dark humor, suddenly we're baking a cake and then Gridi's aged father shows up and take parts in the proceedings, the scent of burning flesh making him nostalgic for beef, there's definitely some very weird and dark humor peppered throughout the film. 

Honestly, as thrillers go there's not a lot new under the sun with BIG BAD WOLVES, it's just assembled with just the right amount of tension and precision and executed wonderfully, and that fantastic sense of dark humor sharpens the point of the more horrific elements, it definitely had a Coen Brothers sensibility about it. . 

The cast is superb, the cinematography is rather nice and the ominous score from Moshe Edery sounds fantastic, this is straight-up good stuff. Director/writers Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado are ones to watch, this is without a doubt an early contender for best of 2014, a razor-sharp thriller with a throbbing vein of black comedy that will have you wondering if this guy did or not right up till the end, this is highly recommended. 
4 Outta 5 

BIG BAD WOLVES (2013) comes to theaters, On Demand and iTunes on January 17th.  Check out a screening at the following theaters, hopefully it's screening somewhere near you.

1/17/2014
Chicago, IL: Music Box
New York, NY: Cinema Village

1/23/2014
Miami, FL: O Cinema Wynwood

1/24/2014

Columbus, OH: Gateway Film Center 8
Scottsdale, AZ: Shea 14 Theatre

1/30/2014

Charlotte, NC: Movies @ CrownPoint 12

1/31/2014
Dallas, TX: Texas Theatre
North Kansas City, MO: Screenland Armour 2
Tucson, AZ: The Loft Cinema
Winston-Salem, NC: Aperture Cinema

2/14/2014
Salem, MA: Cinema Salem 3

3/8/2014
Ooltewah, TN: Barking Legs Theater