This weekend sees the kickoff of Reel Music, the Northwest
Film Center’s 26th annual music film festival. As in previous years,
there’s something for everyone, and more than a few curveballs among
the 30 films, many of which are incredibly difficult to find anywhere
else. Naturally, much of the series is made up of documentaries,
including 2008’s The Gits, which recounts the life and brutal
murder of Gits singer Mia Zapata in Seattle, or Nerdcore Rising,
which follows hiphop geek superstar MC Frontalot.
But it’s not all docs: Two Sergio Leone westerns (The Good, the
Bad, and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West) make the
bill, due to Ennio Morricone’s iconic scores. English madman Ken
Russell’s 1983 visual interpretation of Gustav Holst’s The
Planets makes use of found footage and newsreels, while
Christmas on Mars is the Flaming Lips’ long-gestating homemade
science fiction mindfuck. And after appearing at the Hollywood Theatre
this past November, Filmusik: The Superman Orchestra makes a
welcome return, pairing live soundtracks with vintage Superman
cartoons.
Still, the series’ strength is documentaries on music makers,
whether they be legends—Van Morrison in 1991’s One Irish
Rover, Tom Waits in the classic 1988 performance film Big
Time, Patti Smith in Patti Smith: Dream of Life, or Cash in
Johnny Cash’s America—or relatively unsung heroes, such as
female rockabilly pioneer Wanda Jackson in the bio-documentary Sweet
Lady with the Nasty Voice, or grease-funk progenitor Andre Williams
in Agile, Mobile, Hostile, or recovering amnesiac and jazz
guitarist Pat Martino in Martino Unstrung. And there’s stuff for
hippies, too: banjoist Béla Fleck travels to Africa in Throw
Down Your Heart, and you can probably guess what Bob Marley:
Exodus ’77 is about.
For individual film shorts, go here.
Visit nwfilm.org for complete program
information.