It is not often that I find a vintage film that I haven’t seen, especially one that blows me away. But such was my delight for a screening of the 1926 classic “The Adventures Of Prince Achmed,” a silent film fairytale that cast an indelible spell. And the picture came to enchanted life thanks to a live musical score by the former Tucson band Friends of Dean Martinez. I cannot gush enough. I wish I could have rounded up everybody I know to see a second screening.
“Achmed” was the second film shown at the Tucson Film and Music Festival that ran over Labor Day Weekend at the Rialto, concurrent with the HoCo Fest across the street at Hotel Congress. Gorgeously animated by the German artist Lotte Reininger, the film’s intricate silhouette cut-outs give it an eerie, Brothers Grimm quality. The fantastical tale, based on story elements from “1001 Arabian Nights,” is told in pantomime by silhouette figures against an exquisite backdrop of enchanted grottos, mythic trees and Arabian architectural motifs. Visually, one can imagine the film’s influence on many contemporary directors, from Tim Burton to Peter Jackson. And all the while, Friends of Dean Martinez conjured shifting moods and mounting drama with their spare, haunted soundtrack. I hope somebody made a recording of the music, and you can get the film on DVD. Learn more about the film on Wikipedia.
On Saturday I caught “Rock and Roll Gearhead: Four Days with Billy F. Gibbons,” a glimpse of the legendary ZZ Top guitarist. Billy’s plush LA lifestyle with his model/actress wife and another model/actress groupie felt like VH1, but his big African art collection and his odd African hat provided some novel dimension. I especially enjoyed his visit to Rick Rubin’s studio where the Buddha-like Rubin stroked his lap dog while Gibbons cut some licks.
I missed the music video program and “Samba!,” one of many music docs I wanted to see. I did catch the final film of the day, “Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal,” featuring interviews with members of Metallica, Slayer, Megadeath and Anthrax. I’m only peripherally a thrash metal fan, but even so I loved the doc. Fast paced, smart and funny, the story was all about rebellion against the late 1980s hair bands and the complex interplay of inspiration and competition between the thrash metal scenes in LA, SF and NYC. Plus, the raw testosterone-fueled music made me want to stage dive all over again. If you love thrash metal, or did, try to catch this one on video. The band Ph8 played after the doc, and while I missed the show, dozens of pierced teens awaited the concert in the lobby as I left the screening.
Sunday I hit the “Horrible Flowers” screening, which I believe was the only feature film (fiction, not documentary) in the fest. Eric Tretbar’s story of a sexy but aging rock singer and her band in Minneapolis had some funny moments, but the drama never pulled me in. My favorite part came when a rival aging rock diva date-rapes a cute young drummer in her tour bus boudoir which is lined with funhouse mirrors.
My lovely wife Julie Reed went to Sunday’s final film, “Rural Rock & Roll” about the music scene in the Humboldt County towns of Eureka and Arcadia, and she loved it. As she describes it: A delightful surprise, Jensen Rufe gives us a tightly edited, engaging look at this isolated yet thriving rock scene. Rufe weaves a lively ode to the bands and the fans in Humboldt, with excellent concert footage and funny, insightful interviews, he keeps us interested from start to finish.
I had my sights on Monday’s opening film, “The Last Western,” about Pioneer Town in California, a former movie set that has since turned into a haven for desert rats and rock bands, but a late monsoon storm leveled a tree in our back yard and I had to clean it up. I did make it to the Desert Shorts program, an impressive selection including some hasty films made by Howe Gelb and Al Perry during last year’s music fest. Two of the shorts stood out for me, “The Runners” from UA film students JorDan Fuller and Justin Mashouf about fast paced romp about a bumbling couple who smuggles immigrants, and Jonathan Pulley’s “Move Me,” a subtle, affecting father/son story that went to Sundance.
My last film of the fest, “Sleepwalking Through the Mekong,” a documentary by John Pirozzi, followed the band Dengue Fever as they traveled through Cambodia. I’m a big fan of a few Dengue Fever songs but I did not know the story behind the music, and what a strange tale it is. Conceptually this film took the prize for cultural pretzel.
The band hails from Los Angeles and formed when a group of musician friends started listening to Cambodian rock ‘n’ roll from the ‘60s and ‘70s – and loved it. They formed a cover band. But none of them spoke Khmer (the official language of Cambodia) so they did not understand the lyrics. The band, all men, found a female Cambodian singer in Long Beach, Calif., and their unique sound was born.
Some years later on the heels of their cult success in the U.S., they went on a tour of Cambodia – an American band singing 1960s hits back to the population that loved the music before Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge banned popular music and wiped out a third of the population in the late 1970s. The filmmaker followed the tour, and the result is a philosophically mind-bending and engrossing documentary.
Unfortunately, I missed the final film, “Hell On Wheels,“ by director Bob Ray about the Austin Roller Derby scene, and the closing night party. If somebody reading this saw the film, please comment.
All together, the Tucson Film and Music Festival was the best fest I’ve seen in Tucson. In particular “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” was one of the most enchanting screenings I’ve ever had the pleasure to attend. Fest director Michael Toubassi deserves high praise – he selected a strong group of films and lured many of the directors to town for Q&A after the screenings. A music-centric film fest that runs concurrently with the HoCo Fest holds real potential in a music town like Tucson, and I hope to see bigger audiences next year.
Read more about all the films and get links at the the fest Web site: www.tucsonfilmandmusicfestival.com
