Dig! - A Review

I posted the following about 8 months ago on hulu.com as a review to the film, Dig!, about the relationship between members of The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre.  Go to the film's comment thread on hulu if you wish to read more comments about what I wrote.



All the reviews here are right.


Yes this is a good movie/documentary.

Yes the people involved are just a bunch of overly self-involved ego-trippers who think they're a part of some revolution when really they're just a bunch of vain, fame-hungry idiot kids.

Yes it's annoying.

Yes it's fascinating.

And yes...it's satisfying.

I don't think either of these bands was all that influential. The Dandy Warhols were part of the early to mid 90s alt-MTV media machine and didn't have enough talent to give them real staying power, or wide appeal that would have catapulted them past their very slick advertising. Like they say in advertising, nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising. The Dandy Warhols aren't a bad product necessarily, just one that most people wouldn't want to buy, and they stand now as a semi-well known band with a decent following, but they ain't leading any revolution... that's for sure.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre would have suffered a similar fate, and similar amount of financial success, if they weren't just a bunch of dysfuctional, really psychologically screwed up bunch of grown children. Their star never rose to some sort of menial prominence, like the Dandy Warhols did, because their talent was standing on a foundation of mental illness and addiction. When they did influence some people and other artists they were young and able to hold their stuff ogether through sheer will power. It seems that's why they were able to play some good gigs, put together some half-decent demo quality albums, and convince themselves (and others) they had a chance of being...something. However, this film clearly illustrates the cracks began to show gradually from their seemingly bright and promising inception, and then, the moment they were handed even a modicum of responsibility with a record contract, they quickly crumbled. The Massacre is still around today, but I know only of a handful of people (and that's being generous) who've heard of them, and even less who regularly listen to them.

Again, revolutionaries they are not, either The Dandy Warhols or The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Still, there is something eminently watchable about this documentary. The Dandy Warhols story is relatable because they're a bunch of mostly well-adjusted suburban kids just working hard and pulling minor media stunts (slick videos, girl playing naked in public, etc) to gain fame, career longevity, and the ability to start their own seemingly well-adjusted families. The Brian Jonestown Massacre is everything their band name advertises. They are a group of people willfully drinking their own poisoned, half-sweetened Kool Aid while listening to some decent rock music for a soundtrack. The whole band, much like Anton Newcombe himself, is a group of individuals that resembles something sweet, cute, severely abused puppies. They have the quality of being something bright-eyed, engergetic and promising, but end up becoming something maladjusted and angry, baring their teeth and snapping at the very people that try to pet or feed or feed them. There are people in the world drawn to such qualities in others, and find them engaging and charming, but the story always ends the same. That's why the fans of TBJM haven't stuck around for the long term. Like a woman or a man in a long-term abusive relationship, they probably got tired of being let down, and, in some ways, assaulted by this band's willful self-destruction.

Essentially, this film is a really great character study of what happens when a bunch of ambitious, moderately talented, incredibly flawed and naive American suburbanites get elevated to some sort of prominence through their hobbies, and then their personalities are allowed to play out against each other over time in the public eye. Great stuff.