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Border Radio (1987)
On DVD at last!
Originally scripted as a grim film noir homage, a series of financial dry spells stretched out the film's production schedule to three years, whereupon the screen story underwent as many dramatic changes as any of the hard-living bands from the music scene the film adopts as its backdrop.
Star Chris D. insists in the DVD's supplemental features that the original script's noir aspects are what attracted him to the project, but it was only once he became involved that the thing took shape as a "rock movie," with the added participation of D.'s friends (and sometime bandmates) like John Doe and Dave Alvin. Alvin went on to create an eclectic and memorable score for the film (now out of print, sadly), with players culled from friends and colleagues from X, Los Lobos, The Blasters and other local heroes.
Not every film could survive three filmmakers AND active contributions by everyone in the cast, but then it's a rare project that manages to pack this much simpatico talent onto one movie poster.
Additional DVD extras include deleted scenes, a potent "trailer" (including several moments not in the finished film) set to a driving musical score, and a pair of loose, enjoyable commentary tracks. Another welcome addition is Chris D. and The Flesh Eaters' vintage ain't-no-WAY-this-is-running-on-MTV music video for their classic "The Wedding Dice" (comically mangled by Chris Shearer in the film itself).
Had it followed its intended "straight noir" course, BORDER RADIO may well have survived as an interesting curio; but as it turned out, the film stands as a fitting elegy to an era, both in its depiction of a musical phenomenon's sunset and for its unique collaborative approach to film-making. That both still feel like breaths of fresh air twenty years on only stands as a testament to their legitimacy.
Like so many of the "lost" bands of the music scene it salutes with unabashed affection, BORDER RADIO is ripe for rediscovery.
I Pass for Human (2004)
Chris D.'s Carnival of Doomed Souls
Chris D. has long been the kind of artist whose work manages to create sharp divisions of opinion, and this, his first feature film, is going to prove no exception. But that's only to be expected when nothing you produce quite fits the tiny boxes critics are determined to squeeze it into for the sake of convenience. The man can be a hard sell, period.
I PASS FOR HUMAN is a horror movie, and it's a film about addiction. But viewers going in burdened by fixed notions about what either of those labels mean are bound to miss the point. It's not a horror movie with a lot of "boo!" scares or gore, and it's not an addiction film in the "classic" sense, like say THE LOST WEEKEND or REQUIEM FOR A DREAM.
What it boils down to is something unique: a hard-nosed portrait of a woman trapped in the inexorably turning whirlpool that is the malaise and uncertainty of addicts and the addict lifestyle, filtered through a decidedly grim take on the street-level L.A. music scene and vampirism (note: not necessarily the same thing). For those who demand comparisons, think somewhere between PANIC IN NEEDLE PARK and CARNIVAL OF SOULS.
The DVD commentary with Chris D. and producer/editor Lynne Margulies is an engaging listen, both for admirers of the film and would-be filmmakers alike. Their entertaining reminiscences of the ups and downs of DIY production offer comfort and inspiration to even the most forlorn no-budget filmmaker.
Also worth mentioning is the inclusion of 'Le Ciel de Sang,' an early 70s vampire-themed short inspired by Hammer films and Italian Gothics of the 60s in which Chris D. somehow manages to create a brief and hypnotic 'Rollinade' decades before Jean Rollin's films made it to these shores! Call it another case of gifted minds thinking alike.