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August 27, 2007
LOL on DVD
As wonderful and mature a film as Hannah Takes The Stairs might be, I don't think it would be in the position it is right now had not Joe Swanberg's previous feature LOL provided such a shot in the arm to the festival circuit in 2006. An exuberantly scrappy, handmade little film about being a young dude in this digital age, LOL is - even more so than Hannah - both a product of and herald to its generation.
What with the explosion of recent related press, Benten Films couldn't have picked a better time to release LOL on DVD this week. That timeliness has set a sort of precedent for this boutique distributor, which is going to be closely linked to this circle of filmmakers for the near future: up next are Dance Party USA, Quiet City and (the pin that consistently pops any cohesion in the Mumblecore balloon) Todd Rohal's The Guatemalan Handshake. But this is a niche that deserves to be filled, and speaking as a filmmaker who's had to put up with micro-distributors who want to treat art films like exploitation, it's refreshing to see a boutique with a passion for these little films that could.
This inaugural release bodes well for the future. The film is handsomly packaged and supplemented by a whole host of extra features, including two commentary tracks (so far I've listened to the first, by Joe, Kevin Bewersdorf and C. Mason Wells), the video podcasts Kevin made while he was working on the audio for the film in Berlin, and the enchanting Tipper Newton's audition interview. A lengthy essay by GreenCine's David Hudson ties the film explicitly and appropriately to the blogosphere. And then, last but not least, there are the complete Noisehead videos, some of which were interpolated throughout the film but which are presented here in their entirety. On the commentary track, Kevin talks about how they were conceived as intentionally lame video art, and that they weren't actually supposed to turn out as cool as they did. But cool they are, and it is at this point I should probably offer a word of warning: I'm in one of them (it was shot while I was filming the closing sequence of Some Analog Lines) and, well, it's pretty frightening. Note to self: try to be less scary in the future.
But of course, as with most DVDs, the best extra feature is the film itself. It's repeatedly noted in the commentary how completely dated the film is, only two years out from its production (can you remember a time before YouTube?). But that devil is in the details, and in the grander sense LOL is as vital and prescient as ever.
And, in keeping with its generation's need for instant gratification, it's available right now.
Posted by David Lowery at August 27, 2007 08:08 PM