These three documenaries bundle well together: Tom DiCillo's When You're Strange (2009), Alex Gibney's Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008) and Michael W. Dean and Kenneth Shiffrin's HUBERT SELBY JR: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow (2005).
They are all three about American iconoclasts, and all three touch on similar themes -- the nature of American society, art and persona; the impact of periodically altered states of conciousness. Also, in the latter two Thompson and Selby share an almost frenzied loathing of the "W" Bush presidency.
When You're Strange rounds out Jim Morrison and the Doors very nicely, and there is a lot of footage I'd never seen before. Both it and the Thompson film are narrated by Johnny Depp. The latter provides a good introduction to its subject, the writer, the man, the celebrity. I found this documentary to be more depressing than the other two, especially Thompson's suicide after the reelection of Geroge W. Bush as president of the USA.
HUBERT SELBY JR: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow, despite Selby's physical and spiritual hardships, is weirdly the most upbeat of the three documentaries. This one is narrated in a low-key way by Robert Downey, Jr. I learned more from it than from the other two, but found much to value in all three films.
Today's Rune: Strength.
4 comments:
Fascinating.
As sort of a local Hunter S. Thompson manque', I would love to get my hands on Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008).
So Selby didn't like Bush eh. Well he got that right. Even if "requiem for a dream" still sucks. ;)
I've got Gonzo on my Netflix streaming queue. I should watch it this week. I never made the connection between W.'s re-election and Thompson's suicide. Too bad he didn't hang on long enough to see Obama's election. He would have enjoyed seeing racist conservatives heads exploding.
As much as I loved "Fear and Loathing," I find his "Generation of Swine" books in the eighties to have been some of his most important work.
My ex was a Doors fan. I didn't even like them until I met him (when I gave them a chance & found I liked them more than I'd thought.) Unfortunately, after reading "No One Here Gets Out Alive" & seeing some biopics on the Doors, in general, I lost any respect I might have had--at least for Jim Morrison. What a dick.
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