TV Party

A celebration of access cable and its role in the halcyon days of low-rent postpunk NYC - not only are the hipsters and bullsh*tters and wasteoids and accidental superstars put on unfiltered display for the world to see, they're also running the asylum, with Basquiat typing madly all over the screen and Amos Poe doing his best to simulate or provoke serial nervous disorder from the switching room. Debbie Harry on her pogo stick, David Byrne in his cowboy hat, "Jerry Wexler" on the phone - you want to jump on screen and join in the fun, even if you can remember or intuit how much baggage went with the tomfoolery. Unfortunately the question of how to make a movie out of all this is resolved with the infuriatingly lazy "heading" approach to documentary: one part about bands, one part about celebrity guests, one part about call-ins, one part about pot, one part about theme shows, and on it goes. I'm not saying Vinik should have given in to the chaos, but he could have at least tried to simulate it. On the other hand, you could interpret this laziness as not giving a f*ck, which is in the spirit of the show. And, I'm sure, easier to take.

Saw the movie last night at Tribeca. Was very excited for it, but found it disappointing. Worth it only for the actual TV Party clips which are FASCINATING. A basic talking heads style docu, but with poorly chosen interviews and structure. It had none of the energy or originality of the actual TV Party program & with a show that crazy, you think they could have come up with something outrageous for the documentary. Unfortunately they stuck to the most conventional format possible. To the filmmaker's credit, he did manage to convey the atmosphere of this fantastic period of New York history but then tried too hard to find some sort of structure out of a show that was simply drug-addled nonsense/chaos. My suggestion - make TV Party the movie the same thing the TV show was - a movie that's actually a party.

I saw TV Party at Tribeca also, but unlike Maneal I was pleasantly (very much so) surprised. I expected another puff piece decline of western civilization we are so fucked up kind of thing, but instead, I found it really made the case that somehow there was more freedom for artists back in the early 80's in NYC and I actually wished I had been there. The show clips were amazing, but the filmmakers choice to show basically what these people are up to now is the most interesting choice that could have been made. There probably wasn't much structure to the original show so trying to imitate that would have been a huge mistake. All in all, the choices made were spot on. These people were not apologizing for anything, the drug use, nothing and I'm glad that the film didn't either. It was done in a very straightforward almost PBS way, but that's what I liked about it. I learned more about that period from this film than I have from any other film on similar subjects. I'm in my mid twenties, so I was barely born when this show was on the air. It really makes you wonder if we are heading in the right direction. This film really rocked. I want to buy a copy for my collection. Does anyone have any info about when the DVD is coming out?