Overbearing Director


So, I thought the interviews and footage in this movie were fascinating. However, I feel like the director was in the way too often. Why the modern "indie" music in there? Wouldn't they have been better off using purely southern rural and "outsider" music, since that was the culture they were exploring? Furthermore, the director and his opinions were in it way too much. It's advertised as an exploration of southern culture, but I don't think we get a true analysis as the director won't just shut up and listen to any of it without interjecting his own opinions. I think it would have been more tactful to stay out of the way and let the story unfold on its own instead of trying to create an "artistic" piece.

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The narrator of the film, Jim White, is not the director/filmmaker, so your criticism is a bit misplaced. you have a fair point regarding the music, although, as the text at the very beginning of the film states, it was Jim White's music which prompted the filmmaker's fascination with where such music comes from. That's what makes White such an interesting guide - he's not a native southerner, but he's an outsider with an inside scoop, who's been accepted because he's embraced the culture and learned to "speak the language", not only in his music but in his whole persona and the way he relates to folks.

the thing is, White is one of a few contemporary groups who are drawing upon the themes and tonalities of "purely southern rural outsider music" but reinventing it in new and creative ways - those are the musicians highlighted in the film (save Lee Sexton and the ladies' trio singing in the diner) - the Handsome Family, 16 Horsepower, etc.

in any case, you still might have a fair critique of Jim White's role in the film, of his opinions and commentary - if you genuinely didn't like them, then, well, you didn't like them. but I found it to be an inventive way for a documentarian to approach his subject THROUGH a specifically selected individual, like White, who by serving as a kind of cultural and philosophical guide, gives the film a coherence, and an authenticity, that it might have otherwise lacked. (I mean, it seems to me that it could have been a total debacle and wound up being REALLY pretentious if it had been some west coast film school hipster trying to go out there with his movie camera and document this particular side of southern culture!)

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He seems like a hipster jerk who found his flavor, got there a year or two ago, and is now guiding other hipsters around.

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He's anything but a jerk and certainly not a hipster. He's a warm, friendly guy and an absolute gent. Anyone who'd condemn him without knowing anything about him must be a tasteless moron.

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Did any of you note the very beginning segment, after the caption, in which Jim White said quite specifically that 'you can't just pull up in some SUV or a Range Rover and expect folks to open up to you.' That's why he had to borrow a rusted old dodge from Jimmy's Harem of Broken Automobiles.
Seems to me the only hippie wannabes are on this site.

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Did any of you note the very beginning segment, after the caption, in which Jim White said quite specifically that 'you can't just pull up in some SUV or a Range Rover and expect folks to open up to you.' That's why he had to borrow a rusted old dodge from Jimmy's Harem of Broken Automobiles.
Seems to me the only hippie wannabes are on this site, and in Nashville.

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Um, no.




Matinee showings: 11:55, 2:05, 4:20

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