Dig!
by Ondi Timoner
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DVD details
Actor: Anton Newcombe, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, Joel Gion, Matt Hollywood, Peter HolmstromDirector: Ondi Timoner
Brand: Universal Studios
Cinematographer: David Timoner
Producer: David Timoner
Producer: Ondi Timoner
Writer: Ondi Timoner
Producer: Jeff Frey
Producer: Tim Rush
Producer: Vasco Nunes
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-04-12
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Palm Pictures / Umvd
Product features:
- Running Time 107 Min System Requirements: Filmed over seven years (1996-2002) and culled from over 1500 hours of footage by rising director Ondi Timoner, DIG! plunges into the underbelly of rock n roll unearthing an amazing true tale of success, self destruction, friendship, and the ultimate rivalry between two up-and-coming bands; Brian Jonestown Massacre led by the tormented, self-destructi
DVD Reviews of Dig!
DVD Review: BJM are all the better for it
Summary: 5 Stars
This interesting movie is about the vital history of two bands: The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. Although it pretends to cover seven years in time, it is mostly about when these two bands were signed by major and indie labels in 1996 and 1997. People like myself who were journalists at the time, with Cups Magazine and Free Williamsburg Online have already covered most of the history of these bands. They were in magazines a lot. I interviewed Anton Newcombe back in 2001. That interview and others like it is perhaps all someone has to know about him. The music speaks for itself. I have seen this film twenty times now. I saw an early cut of it with Anton sitting next to me. First off I have to say that I have mixed feelings about it.
First off I think it is great cinema and must be seen. Anton Newcombe has been making music his whole life and has been able to revive the sprit and heart of bands like The Velvet Underground and The Jesus and Mary Chain. He was doing this music fifteen years ago. Today almost every garage band is making this similar minded music. Today a lot of bands are safe, polite, and business-like. Anton somehow has embraced the rock and roll myth and has updated it. His music, and not his behavior, is always the most important thing though.
Secondly I reject the whole Oprah-esque, pop psychology tone of this film. Director Ondi Timoner has suggested that Anton Newcombe is a product of a broken home and that is the reason why he seems so angry and uncompromising. The Dandy Warhols are portrayed as a bunch of well-adjusted post-hippies who get along with everyone and know how to succeed. Like their good souls and parents somehow relate to outward success. I have known Anton Newcombe for twenty years and have known nothing about his parents and his drugs habits. Anton has always been a person who liked to confront people. He likes to argue. That is his nature. Anton has always been a person who loves music. He is a songwriter above everything else.
It seems like The Dandy Warhols do just as much drugs as any other band. So much for their healthy habits. They don't fight with their audiences and fight with each other. They seemed bored most of the movie. They are like some spoiled privileged children who expect attention. Director Ondi Timoner has said, "There are perfectly functional people that make great art, Like Courtney and the Dandys." I think it's a little premature to say the Dandys have made "great art." They are not the Beatles, Brian Wilson, or Bob Dylan, who are really great artists. Anton himself has made twelve albums. You can't be dysfunctional and write that many songs. Who is Timoner kidding? The Dandys are not even selling as many records as Interpol, The Killers, or Green Day. The Dandys still play small venues in America that new bands with one album play.
I guess that Anton made the mistake of getting into a fight every time Timoner had the cameras on. I have seen Anton play twenty times or more and there were no fights. Some of the footage shot with hidden cameras is an evasion of privacy. On the other hand, according to Zia McCabe, Timoner deleted many stupid comments that The Dandys made. She made them look good always if she had the chance. The commentary by Ondi Timoner is a good chance to show off her baby and nothing else. Why that Nina A&R chick is in the film more than once is beyond me. I heard that she is Ondi's best friend or something. It would have been better to have other bands and fellow musicians talk about BJM and less A&R people.
Timoner is very dishonest about the origins of the film as well. She has said "This project (was) about bands negotiating the route between art and commerce..." That is a lame and vague description, and could be made about any film. As I have heard this film was originally about BJM and a few other bands, all of which are no longer together. Newcombe suggested that she should do a film about his band and the Dandys, because the rest of the bands she chose didn't matter. As can be seen in the film, Timoner tells Newcombe that she have never heard of the Dandy Warhols. How could she have thought of a film about these two bands if she hadn't heard of one of them before she started shooting? Now we can only wonder why Newcombe has dismissed the film as an exercise in Jerry Springer technique.
Newcombe has other points of the film to contend with. He thinks that not enough of his music is represented. Every song gets cut off after thirty seconds. There are a few live songs by BJM on the bonus DVD but not the great videos they have done. It's unclear to me what happens in Georgia. When BJM gets busted in Georgia, it was really Ondi Timoner herself who was alledgely busted for marijuana. Newcombe was only cited for an expired license. On the commentary all people are very quiet or edited out at this point. Police in Kansas stopped me once in 1996, so I know how it is. This is one of the main points of the film. BJM are so damn unlucky, while the successful and lucky Dandys only get a ticket in France. The other problem with the film is that Timoner just focuses on two years with BJM while she shows eight years of the Dandys. There is footage from a live performance in 2003, but it is only live footage of the Sunset Junction gig. There is not a lot of footage from the past three years. I guess Anton wasn't beating up anyone then, so it was not worthy of the film? People tend to act up when the cameras are running. If BJM had fifty members in its twelve years of existence we only saw about ten members. We only got 20% of the story.
Anton Newcombe has done his best work in the past three years. BJM has played hundreds of shows in America, Canada, and the UK. At the end of this film you get a feeling that BJM has broken up and Anton has died. This is not even close to the truth. Anton is not even on the DVD commentary (neither is Peter Hayes). About the DVD he is as silent as he was when listening to "Junkie." His band has been the launching pad for about artists such as BRMC, Miranda Lee Richards and The Warlocks. His influence is still enormous and inspiring. I don't really see the same inspiring hotbed of creative activity from the Dandy Warhols. They just seem like a bunch of smug, rich kids, or social climbers, who when they got in the door, using the BJM ladder, they just kicked the ladder away. This movie is just a weathermap. The real art is the music of Brian Jonestown Massacre and Anton Newcombe. That music written by Anton will be the only thing that will ever be considered art connected to this film. Even The Dandys agree with that sentiment in the film. The Dandys are nothing but a pop group. They are just another band.
People who see this film can only be more interested in BJM. People who like The Dandys are not going to think more of them having seen this film. It's sad to see Joel Gion on the cover of the DVD. I know that he plays the fool to Anton's tortured genius. But it's like seeing Jack Kerouac and Neil Cassidy on the cover of On The Road. The author is reduced to a supporting role in the book he has written.
I suggest getting some of the BJM CDs as well. They are wonderful.
Description of Dig!
Seven years in the making and culled from over 1500 hours of footage, DIG! plunges into the underbelly of rock ?n? roll, unearthing an incredible true story of success and self-destruction. Anton A. Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and Courtney Taylor of the Dandy Warhols are star-crossed friends and bitter rivals ? DIG! is the story of their loves and obsessions, gigs and recordings, arrests and death threats, uppers and downers, and the delicate balance between art and commerce.Bestsellers in DVD
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