MovieChat Forums > The Beaver Trilogy (2001) Discussion > This American Life

This American Life

posted 20 years ago by sudbury
11 replies | jump to latest

This movie was the subject of a segment of the wonderful NPR show, "This American Life," an episode entitled "Reruns," which aired May 15th, 2004.
I haven't seen the movie, but when you hear about the creation of the movie and the obsessive patterns of Trent Harris, it puts it into perspective. Harris is supposedly obsessed with shooting the same thing over and over. The Beaver Trilogy made it to T.A.L. because the theme for "Reruns" was aptly a theme of reruns, and Harris' story behind The Beaver Trilogy is oddly fascinating.

[–] foo_man18 20 years ago

Yeah, I heard that show, too. I was driving up to my house just as that segment came on and I ended up sitting in the driveway listening to it until it ended. Very intriguing. Too bad theres no way to get our hands on it. I wonder if Trent'll really shoot that scene the guy suggested...

[–] DrSamba 20 years ago

Ah, a driveway moment! NPR has a whole recording dedicated to driveway moments.

I heard the segment in the car as well and did the same thing, except that for me it was a garage moment. I think the judges will accept this as a driveway moment, though. :-)

I'd definitely like to see this as well. The only thing that annoys me is his constant nervous (or is it self-absorbed?) laugh. "Uh, huh-huh."

[–] franklinmjohnson 20 years ago

I heard this report on "This American Life" on my way to the dry cleaners and circled the block for 15 minutes until it finished. I don't think it's possible for this movie to make sense without the back-story. I can understand why someone would consider this movie pretty boring unless they knew the story behind its production.

[–] apersonhumming-1 20 years ago

I missed out on the NPR story, but viewed this film on a dubbed VHS copy from a videostore in Oregon. The background story was almost implied by the sequence of the order in which you saw the consecutive shorts, and it was very strong as a film on its own. Brilliant, and slightly twisted. Both Glover and Penn were outstanding. Congratulations to Trent Harris for having the guts to push through with such a daring and unorthodox process!

[–] kscanlonpr 20 years ago

I'm located in Oregon. Do you know a way I can view this as well or what videostore has it?

[–] electricafroman 19 years ago

I'm just amazed that 8 or 9 people where listining to NPR at the same time!

Too crazy for boystown; too much of a boy for crazytown.

[–] Spud Stud 17 years ago

Trent Green has a web site. It says to email him to find out how to view the movie.

http://www.echocave.net/Beaver_Trilogy.html

[–] violenza_domestica 16 years ago

I feel like if you watched the last segment of the film you wouldn't find it boring. Story behind production or no.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Woe-to-the-Crown 16 years ago

Inspite of the interviewer, this is actually quite good. Catch it here:

Starts at 5:50 mins - http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=226

And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo...

[–] rick-586 11 years ago

They just repeated this episode of T.A.L. in 2013 (a rerun of the rerun episode.. how meta)... anyhow - it was a terrific episode/sotry segment... I see that you can youtube "beaver kid trilogy" on youtube and find a number of links... The Beaver Kid looks nothing like I was expecting from the radio show.