The Beaver Trilogy

The short that starts this film is the true footage of a guy named Gary, apparently it was taken randomly in the parking lot of a television station where Gary works in the town of Beaver. Gary is a little "different"; he is an impersonator and drives an old Chevy named Farrah (after Fawcett). Lo and behold the filmmaker gets a letter from Gary some time later inviting him to return to Beaver to get some footage of the local talent contest he has put together, including Gary's staggering performace as Olivia Newton Dawn. Oh, my. The two shorts that follow are Gary's story, the same one you just witnessed only the first is portrayed by Sean Penn and the second by Crispin Glover titled "The Orkly Kid." If you are in the mood for making fun of someone this is definitely the film to watch. I was doubled over with laughter through most of it, especially Crispins performance which could definitely stand on it's own. When it was over, I had to rewind the film to once again watch the real Gary and all his shining idiocy. Although Olivia was the focus, I would have liked to have seen one of the "fictitious" shorts take a jab at Gary's Barry Manilow impersonation, whic h was equally ridiculous.

This movie is amazing for several reasons. Harris takes an extremely awkward documentary and turns it into a relevant social commentary. Groovin' Gary is a small-town kid who is (assumed) well-liked for his many impersonations. When he decides to play Olivia Newton John in a local talent show (for whom he is very passionate), Gary's actions show that he is at odds with the conservative social environment in which he lives. This results in him making various justifications for his actions so that people will not think that he is in fact a transvestite or other such social outcast. In the second installment, Harris exploites the struggle between Gary and Beaver in a novice attempt to make a narrative out of the original documentary. The third and final installment to the trilogy is truly amazing for Harris' extreme sensitivity with the subject. Unlike the second installment, "The Orkly Kid" shows Gary as a truly troubled character. He struggles to gain acceptance within his own community to no avail. His secret passion for dressing like Olivia Newton John distances him even further from the people that already consider him a social outcast. The movie is depicted so realistically that, like reality, it lends itself to many reactions. Surely, one can see Gary as a ridiculously pathetic character, but may also identify with him as an outcast.

Yes, this gets the full ten stars. It's plain as day that this fill is genius. The universe sent Trent Harris a young, wonderfully strange man one day and Harris caught him on tape, in all that true misfit glory that you just can't fake. Too bad it ended in tragedy for the young man, if only an alternate ending could be written for that fellow's story. The other two steps in the trilogy do retell the story, with Sean Penn and Crispin Glover in the roles of the young men, respectively. The world is expanded upon and the strangeness is contextualized by the retelling, giving us a broader glimpse into growing up weird in vanilla America. Recommended for anyone and everyone!

True, the trilogy is no spectacle (the way most commercialized Americans would like to see a director handle a trilogy), but that's no reason to write it off as unworthy cinema.

Of course, I'm a little biased (being a huge Crispin Glover fan), but I thought this film served a unique and ultimately wonderful purpose...but if you're not studying acting, you may not see the same study material that I do.

Sean Penn and Crispin Glover both do an amazing job inhabiting the skin of this wayfaring Olivia Newton-John enthusiast, and seeing these two progressive talents picking and choosing tidbits of personality detail from the documentary, and then adding their own experience is something that any avid cinema fan should enjoy. A look into the psyche of the actor as well as the portrayed.

Plus there's the irony of impersonating an impersonator, which really just makes me smile.

In short, it's great study material...and entertaining.

Three words can best describe this collection of 3 short films- one documentary and two dramatic re-enactments- by Trent Harris, of Rubin and Ed fame: SHEER F**KING BRILLIANCE!!! OK so here's the story...

The first film "The Beaver Kid" (1979) kind of fell into the lap of Channel 2 news cameraman and future filmmaker Trent Harris- you just can't write sh*t like this!! One day while doing a camera test in the Channel 2 parking lot in Beaver, Utah, Harris came across a man who was outside the station shooting photos. When the man, who would turn out to be our protagonist Larry Huff, noticed he was being filmed, he approached Harris and told him that he does impersonations. Harris humoured the man, and got him to do a John Wayne impression for the camera. The tape ended up becoming tangled in the camera, and they had to cut the interview short, but before leaving Harris asked Larry whether there were any other exciting stories in Beaver...and if he knew of any ...to get back to him.

It turns out (as revealed in the subsequent two dramatic re-enactments of the two men's relationship) that Larry had gone to the station that day to try and get on TV; on some expose on locals. Larry was turned down, but fate was in his favour that day and he would achieve the mediated immortality that he so gravely sought- as a result of his happenstance meeting with Harris.

A few months later Harris received a letter from Larry asking him to cover the Beaver talent show- with the headliner being him impersonating Olivia Newton John (with who he is absolutely obsessed). Knowing comedic brilliance when he sees/hears it, Harris quickly agrees and heads back to Beaver to meet Larry.

Harris and his soundman meet up with Larry the day of the talent show as he is getting his make-up done....by the local mortician (the best/only aesthetician in town). As he is getting made up Larry reflects on his adoration for Olivia and discusses what he hopes to achieve with his performance. What he wants most isn't really clear- to become famous...or to become Olivia...

Next we are shown the coverage of the talent show, from which it is revealed how talentless the town of Beaver really is. The act culminates with Huff's rendition of an Olivia Newton John ballad in full dragged out garb. Truly the most embarrassing performance I have personally ever witnessed (except for Crispin Glover's re-enactment in the third film- "The Orkly Kid"). The first film ends here with a final performance by Larry (no-longer in Olivia form) and his band.

The second film, "The Beaver Kid 2" (1981), is a low-budget dramatic re-enactment of the story behind the filming of the original documentary, shot in black and white and starring Sean Penn as "Groovin' Larry". In this film we are provided with a little bit of a back story (which has been incorporated into the above paragraphs) as well as a bit of follow-up information. I don't want to give away TOO much, because it's just way too f**king funny. But I will say this...it is roles like this that have made Penn the infamous actor that he is today!

And Harris wasn't finished yet... Still obsessed by his experience with Huff, he decided to re-make the re-enactment, but this time with a little bigger budget, better equipment, and a young Crispin Glover cast as Larry. This third film is called "The Orkly Kid" (1985) and is a little closer to how the actual events and dialogue are portrayed in the first film, but again with the back and follow up elements of the story included.

The performances by both Penn and Glover in the latter two films are nothing short of hilarious....but Glover's performance as Larry as Olivia Newton John in the talent show is so atrocious that it nearly had me pissing my pants!

You may not be able to write brilliance like this...but you sure as hell can adapt it, as Harris proves!! Sure it's cheese, but who said cheese couldn't be artistic gold. This is a must see....especially if you are die hard Penn or Glover fans.

9 out 10. For both the concept and execution on a budget.