Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Bloodied But Unbowed: the TV cut

...now that was an amazing little film, jampacked with insights, images, and (of course) amazing music; edited with great energy and inventiveness; and the ending was perfect. Everything I criticized about the theatrical version was absent here (plus I didn't have to worry that Billy Hopeless would pelt me with a skateboard). There's still a bit of downbeat stuff as the scene dissipates and heroin, death, violence, prison, and "failure" become the topics, but it's balanced with Hopeless' narration about the surviving impact of the music, and the doc ends with exactly the shot it needed to convey the "unbowed" angle - DOA taking the stage for their 30th anniversary show - a little explosive blast as Joe hails the crowd, without any following chatter during the credits to distract from the impact of the moment, just the Subhumans playing "Fuck You" (delightfully uncensored by Knowledge). Great fucking film!

...and I'm sure I'm not alone among those of us who watched it when I remark on how strange it was to watch an hour of TV where I knew almost every single person on the screen. It's somehow weirder on the small screen than it was in the theatre...

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