Shepard & Dark

Pure documentary. As pure reality film, the subjects of this film are given freedom to interact and to wander through a given time frame the documentary director chose as a span of coverage. Issues are either left resolved or unresolved at the end of the span of coverage. Thus, expect no objective, no moral goals or punchline. The correspondence remains private except for a few key letters, but we're left to observe a grounded, award-winning playwright and actor interact with persons outside the entertainment business. That said, take a board, get a bucket of paint (color is not important, but make it oil-based paint), acquire a horse-hair brush, apply paint to the wooden board--two coats, now sit back and watch it dry. Now, which was more entertaining?

SHEPARD & DARK (dir. Treva Wurmfeld) For over forty years American playwright, actor, film director, and Beat Generation apologist, Sam Shepard has been close friends with Johnny Dark, a man who chose to live a solitary life far from the limelight. In fact, Johnny Dark now works as a minimum wage clerk at a Hispanic deli in the backwater village of Deming, New Mexico, but for a time during the 70's the two men were related by marriage when Sam Shepard wed the daughter of Johnny's wife, and they, and their children, lived together in a ramshackle 'Hippie- style' commune.

But the heart of this intriguing documentary concerns the thousands of letters, postcards, and photos that Johnny and Sam have archived which painstakingly chronicle their lasting relationship. I wish that the film had focused more on the content of these eloquently written letters, and less on the ultimately failed attempt to bring this appealing correspondence to an amenable publisher. Although the monetary implications of this venture did not end their rather unusual friendship, you can't help but sense that the financial aspects of this deal somehow tainted their relationship. Both men are truly magnetic and charismatic personalities, and to watch their interaction is a positive delight, and the film is a kind of a testament to 'male bonding' and the power of written correspondence over a lifetime. MUST SEE

As a fan of Sam Shepard's, epistolary tales, documentaries, and slice-of-life studies of individuals and relationships, I was drawn to watch this film about actor, writer, director Sam Shepard and his lifelong friend, Johnny Dark.

The film posits that it's an exploration of Sam and Johnny's friendship through their decades of letters, which The University of Texas Press ended up publishing in a book in 2013 titled Two Prospectors, The Letters of Sam Shepard and Johnny Dark. Johnny, an archivist, had saved all of his letters; Sam saved some.

The part I found most interesting was the period of time they lived together as a family: Johnny, his wife Scarlett Johnson, and their daughter, (Scarlett had a brain aneurysm out of the blue, became disabled, emotionally raw, and childlike), and Sam, married to Scarlett's daughter O-Lan Jones, and their son Jesse. Sam was great with Scarlett at that time.

The goal of exploring the letters felt only somewhat met to me as bits of letters are read from. A history of this friendship with it's many levels and changes is documented. It was the point where Sam up and left his son Jesse to be with Jessica Lange that I wanted to stop watching the film. I pushed on because I was curious and wanted to see it through.

Johnny talks in the film about how he realized he felt relegated to being Sam's sidekick, always doing what Sam wanted. The movie ends with a letter Johnny wrote to Sam basically saying how he would always love him and make sure they stayed in touch because the friendship is important to him.

The portrait, which felt odd and disjointed to me, showed dark and tormented sides of Sam; it left me feeling hollow, like lost in a tunnel. Perhaps the onus is on me for not getting the filmmaker's vision. I'm unsure how to rate it. I imagine it will appeal to many viewers more than it did to me so I gave it a seven. Personally, I wish I had not watched this film.

I'm guessing many of us, Shepard included, struggle with the idea of looking back. Fortunately not many of have a camera crew offering to help us indulge, or an archive of letters.

Those letters, shared somewhat in the film, showcase the clear talent Sam has with words. And his relationship with Johnny Dark feels substantial, although unequal.

Could just be me, but I sensed a struggle within Sam to be more the type of man that Dark was, especially in terms of family devotion. Not just attending to his ailing wife, but honestly stepping in when Shepard steps out on his son and O-Lan for a life with Lange. Seems all the relationships with Shepard, from his father on down are branded with ambiguity.

I walked away wondering if Shepard feels, like a lot of us, some shame with certain angles of our own character, and yet well-aware that those angles have pretty much put us where we are today.

For worse, or for him, better. He sees aspects of the Dark that I'm certain he admires, but the shadows of his own father seem to occlude them.

Maybe I'm not quite a big enough fan of Shepard, though I am a fan of his work; plenty of scenes of Sam as singer/star/stud/ranch hand in here for folks who are deeper in Shepard's flock. I walked away rooting for Dark, hoping he keeps on finding access to pianos and brings some sustaining snacks the next time he visits his friend.

I do miss letter writing....such a different experience than anything e-phemeral.