Sonic Youth Movies
- 2010
- Add William S. Burroughs: A Man Within to Queue Add William S. Burroughs: A Man Within to top of Queue
The curious life of controversial avant-garde author and Beat poet William S. Burroughs serves as the subject of this documentary from Chicago-based filmmaker Yony Leyser. A gay drug addict who shot to infamy with his unguarded look at the drug and queer cultures, Burroughs made headlines when he shot his wife in Mexico City, and achieved infamy when his groundbreaking novel Naked Lunch was banned in the U.S. David Cronenberg, John Waters, Genesis P-Orridge, Patty Smith, Gus Van Sant, Laurie Anderson, and other celebrities/artists influenced by Burroughs' surreal body of work weigh in on why his influence today is still as strong as it was when he was in peak form. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Weller
- 2010
The unexplained disappearance of a handful of students touches the lives of their peers in unexpected ways in this low-key drama, the first feature from writer and director Fabrice Gobert. Werner (Laurent Delbecque) is a teenager attending Lycee Leon Blum on the suburban fringes of Paris in 1992. When Werner goes missing, his friends become increasingly concerned with the passage of time, and his former girlfriend (Ana Girardot) and two of his pals (Audrey Bastien and Jules Pelissier) begin playing private eye, trying to pull together the sketchy evidence in hopes of solving the mystery of Werner's disappearance. Before long, the three are joined by two of their classmates, an eccentric preppie (Arthur Mazet) and a disaffected punk rocker (Selma El Mouissi), but the puzzle grows more complicated when the new arrivals to the group also vanish, and a dead body turns up in the woods. Simon Werner a Disparu . . . (aka Lights Out) features an original score by venerable alternative rock band Sonic Youth; the film debuted at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Laurent Capelluto, Ana Girardot, (more)
Take a trip back to a time when New York City wasn't all glitz and glamour as filmmaker Celine Danhier offers a look at the birth of "No Wave Cinema" and the vibrant art scene that exploded out of the East Village in the late '70s. In the years before Ronald Reagan took office, Manhattan was in ruins. But true art has never come from comfort, and it was precisely those dire circumstances that inspired artists like Jim Jarmusch, Lizzy Borden, and Amos Poe to produce some of their best works. Taking their cues from punk rock and new wave music, these young maverick filmmakers confronted viewers with a stark reality that stood in powerful contrast to the escapist product being churned out by Hollywood. Interviews with the aforementioned artists as well as Debbie Harry, Steve Buscemi, John Waters, John Lurie, Lydia Lunch, and Thurston Moore reveal how a group of young visionaries pooled their resources to birth a film movement that produced some of the most challenging art of the 20th century. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2007
Inevitably recalling the shenanigans of Tom Green and Sasha Baron Cohen's Ali G, Canadian comedian Nardwuar the Human Serviette is essentially a provocateur who built his career out of shocking and offending politicians, actors, musicians, and other noteworthy public figures by pummeling them with outrageous and bizarre questions. Nardwuar particularly specializes in skewering anyone with an aura of self-righteous dignity or importance. Like Green, he rose to celebrity through the tunnels of public access television; the release Nardwuar the Human Serviette: Welcome to My Castle presents a "best of" compilation of interview footage from Nardwuar's 1990s local access series, in which he does Q&A with such guests as Pierre Eliot Trudeau, Ron Jeremy, Timothy Leary, Gerald Ford, Nirvana, Tony Robbins and many others. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nardwuar, Tommy Chong, (more)
- 2007
Sonic Youth have been one of the leading bands on the American alternative music scene since the mid-80's; taking up rock's signature instrument, the electric guitar, Sonic Youth sought to re-invent the way it was played by embracing alternate tunings, physically reshaping their instruments and beating them with sticks or mallets to create otherworldly noises that were at once cacophonous and strangely beautiful, molded to melodies that could be ghostly or aggressive depending on the group's mood. By 2006, Sonic Youth had matured from young upstarts to revered elder statesmen in the noise rock underground, but their music had not lost the ability to engage and challenge an audience, and filmmaker Michael Albright set out to document the group's July 4 appearance in Las Vegas, Nevada. Albright leads a program called Project Moonlight that teaches practical filmmaking technique to high school students, and he assembled a crew from his young charges to capture Sonic Youth's show on digital video gear; the result is Sonic Youth: Sleeping Nights Awake, a concert film that captures guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo, guitarist and bassist Kim Gordon, bassist Mark Ibold and drummer Steve Shelley in full flight, with the band also offering a perspective on their art in brief interview sequences. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sonic Youth
- 2006
After Luke (Scott Patterson) postpones the wedding for the umpteenth time, Lorelai (Lauren Graham) solicits the advice of her parents' dinner guest, psychologist Carolyn Bates (Melora Hardin) -- and ends up uttering the words she thought she'd never say about any man. Meanwhile, Rory (Alexis Bledel) disses Mitchum (Gregg Henry) at Logan's graduation, angry that Mitchum has presumptively arranged for Logan (Matt Czuchry) to work on his London newspaper. And in another development, Taylor (Michael Winters) feels threatened by the hundreds of street troubadours who have descended upon Stars Hollow in hopes of being discovered by a celebrity scout. This final episode of Gilmore Girls' sixth season (and the last before the series' network switchover from WB to CW) ends with a real shocker, as Lorelei overcomes her anger over Luke's indecision by turning (again) to Christopher (David Sutcliffe) -- and this time, the couple doesn't hesitate at the bedroom door! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 2004
- R
- Add The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things to Queue Add The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things to top of Queue
Actress and filmmaker Asia Argento directed this faithful screen adaptation of the fictional J.T. Leroy's fictional memoir, which documents a boy's truly harrowing road to adulthood. Jeremiah (Jimmy Bennett) is the seven-year-old son of Sarah (Asia Argento), an unstable and unwed mother who abandoned her son and left him to be raised by foster parents. Jeremiah has come to love his guardians, and is devastated when Sarah arrives at their doorstep, demanding her child back. Threatening Jeremiah with torture if he tries to run away, Sarah introduces her young son to drugs and encourages her one-night-stand paramours to help "discipline" her son when she feels his behavior is inappropriate. Sarah marries a man named Emerson (Jeremy Renner), but abandons him shortly afterward; Emerson responds by molesting Jeremiah, and soon the child is left in the care of his grandparents (Peter Fonda and Ornella Muti), members of a fundamentalist Christian sect which emphasizes child discipline that's strict to the point of abuse. After three years, Sarah returns with a new husband, Kenny (Matt Schulze), and takes Jeremiah (now played by Dylan Sprouse and Cole Sprouse) with her; Kenny spends most of his time on the road as a trucker, and Sarah supports the family at home as a stripper and a prostitute. Sarah also begins dressing her son is girl's clothing, which excites the perverse appetites of Sarah's latest boyfriend, Jackson (Marilyn Manson); she soon leaves Jackson and pairs off with Chester (Jeremy Sisto), a biker with a dangerous way of making a living. The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the "Directors Fortnight" series. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Asia Argento, Jimmy Bennett, (more)
French director Olivier Assayas departs from his usual dramas with Demonlover, a wild thriller about corporate intrigue, hardcore sex Internet sites, and Japanese animé. Wealthy French business man Henri-Pierre Volf (Jean-Baptise Malartre) assigns Diane de Monx (Connie Nielson) to make a deal with TokyoAnime, a company at the forefront of three-dimensional adult animation, after his former assistant, Karen (Dominique Reymond), is kidnapped. Diane, however, is actually a spy for a different company. Standing in her way is another headstrong business woman (Gina Gershon), and Diane's assistant, Elise Lipsky (Oscar nominee Chloe Sevigny) who questions her boss' morality. Demonlover was screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Connie Nielsen, Charles Berling, (more)
Writer and director Allison Anders, who used the world of rock & roll as the backdrop for her films Border Radio, Grace of My Heart, and Sugar Mountain, returns to the music scene for this tale of a woman struggling to come to terms with an emotionally devastating past. Sherry McGrale (Kim Dickens) is a punk-influenced singer and songwriter whose angry, deeply personal music has begun to win her a national following, though the demons that fuel her art are playing havoc with her life, as she drowns her sorrows in drugs and alcohol and fills a growing police blotter with arrests for disorderly conduct. Sherry is winning significant airplay for a song about the brutal rape of a young woman, and rock journalist Owen (Gabriel Mann) convinces his editor Pete (Rosanna Arquette) to assign him a major story on Sherry when he tells her he knows the truth about Sherry's own rape as an adolescent, which inspired the song. Owen is forced to run interference with Chuck (Don Cheadle), Sherry's manager and former boyfriend who is fiercely protective of his fragile client, but Owen is still able to meet with the singer. However, Owen finds that Sherry either can't or won't remember most of the details of the brutal and degrading assault, and she doesn't want to discuss the heavy toll it's taken upon her. Influential experimental rock group Sonic Youth contributed several original compositions for the film's score; Sherry's singing voice was provided by Kristen Vigard, who performed on the soundtrack of Grace of My Heart. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kim Dickens, Gabriel Mann, (more)
Sarah Pirozek filmed this documentary combining interviews with concert footage of the 1996 San Francisco Tibetan Freedom Concert, which attracted 100,000 people to Golden Gate Park. The film's executive producer, Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, is a Buddhist who initiated the concept of the annual concert. Included are current-events clips (the Dalai Lama addressing Congress, President Clinton announcing a continuation of trade despite China's treatment of Tibetans). With numbers (or partial performances) from top groups (A Tribe Called Quest, Beastie Boys, Bjork, De La Soul, Foo Fighters, Fugees, Richie Havens, John Lee Hooker, Biz Markie, Tim Meadows, Yoko Ono, Pavement, Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins), this film was distributed to one city at a time and marketed like a concert tour. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- 1995
Masters of an otherwordly guitar style that's at once brutally physical and strangely beautiful, Sonic Youth are one of the most uncompromising, acclaimed, and prolific bands to emerge from America's underground rock scene since the 1980's. Sonic Youth: Screaming Fields of Sonic Love collects nine low-budget video clips the band created for albums prior to their major label debut in 1990 with Goo with two live tunes performed at London's Town & Country nightclub, as well as a pair of performances from the television series Night Music. Selections include "Death Valley '69", "Shadow of a Doubt", "Teenage Riot", "Silver Rocket", "Schizophrenia", and more. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 1992
- NR
In 1991, pioneering noise rockers Sonic Youth were about as big as a punk rock band was supposed to get; they'd become one of the most acclaimed bands on the American rock underground, they were signed to a prestigious major label, Geffen, and seemed poised to edge into the commercial mainstream. As it happened, punk rock was about to invade radio and MTV in a big way, but Sonic Youth weren't the ones to lead the charge. In the summer of 1991, Sonic Youth spent two weeks playing large clubs and music festivals, with an up-and-coming band called Nirvana on hand as their opening act. Both bands found themselves playing to some of the biggest and most enthusiastic audiences they'd experienced thus far, and it was a preview of what Nirvana was to experience when their album Nevermind was released a few months later. Musician and filmmaker Dave Markey tagged along to chronicle the tour with a Super 8 sound movie camera, and 1991: The Year Punk Broke was assembled from the footage he shot that summer, as a handful of alternative bands were enjoying a working holiday in Europe, unaware that they'd all be a lot closer to the spotlight in six months. Along with performances from Sonic Youth and Nirvana, 1991: The Year Punk Broke includes appearances by Dinosaur Jr., Babes in Toyland, Gumball and The Ramones. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sonic Youth, Nirvana, (more)
- 1991
Includes eleven videos, eight of which are only available on this video, each created by a different director. Includes "Dirty Boots" and "My Friend Goo." ~ Rovi
- 1987
- R
Not the same as Jean-Luc Godard's 1966 film, this movie stars Chris Penn and Adrian Pasdar as Pennsylvania coal-mining victims who hit the road and travel to California. On the way, they add a hitchhiker (Lori Singer) and get mixed up in a life of crime. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- Starring:
- Adrian Pasdar, Chris Penn, (more)
The Lovedolls are back and this time they're not going down without rocking the whole town in director David Markey's outrageous, punk-infused sequel to the 1984 cult hit Desperate Teenage Lovedolls. Kitty Carryall (Jennifer Schwartz) was wasting away in a booze-soaked depression until acid frenzied religious cult leader Patch Christ (Janet Housden) came along. Once again empowered by the spirit of rock and roll, the freshly recharged pair recruit Sunset Boulevard streetwalker Alexandria "Cheetah" Axethrasher to take over for the recently departed Bunny Tremelo (Hilary Rubens). Things get complicated though when New Mexico-based Freedom School alum Rainbow Tramaine (Steven McDonald) discovers that his twin brother took his own life after breaking big with the Lovedolls, and with the mother of She Devils leader Patricia Ann Colverfield (Tracy Lea) out for blood and obsessive Lovedolls fan Carl Celery (Jeff McDonald) hatching a plan to take out Brews Springstien (Jordan Schwartz), there's no telling what kind of rock and roll madness is yet to come. Special appearances by Bangle Vicki Peterson, Dead Kennedy's front-man Jello Biafra, and The Seeds' Sky Saxon ensures that this gonzo sequel will surely earn a warm spot in the clothespin-pierced heart of punk-rock die-hards. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Janet Housden, Jennifer Schwartz, (more)
- 1985
In January of 1985, experimental New York rockers Sonic Youth played their first show in California as part of a special outdoor festival held in the Mojave Desert, the Gila Monster Jamboree. This video captures Sonic Youth's West Coast debut in glorious black-and-white; the band's nine-song set list includes "Brave Men Run," "Death Valley '69," "Brother James," "Flower," and "I Love Her All the Time." ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
This collection includes Sinead O'Conner, Modern English, Faith No More, Camper Van Beethoven, Love and Rockets, They Might Be Giants, Sonic Youth, The Church, Stone Roses and the Violent Femmes. ~ Rovi
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