A documentary covering the rise of extremely alternative band Half Japanese: from the early days when Jad and David Fair recorded loud music in their bedroom for distribution via mail order cassette tape, to their contemporary incarnation after David's departure for married life and Jad's increased stature among musicians and critics. Includes interviews with Jad, David, Mo Tucker of Velvet underground fame, and Penn Jillette, who produced an album of theirs.
Canada
Source: IMDB (Toronto International Film Festival)
USA
Canada
USA
The influential dadaist band at their peak, whose scrappy DIY set a 90's indie template. Indeed, Jad Fair's precocious lyricism is ingenious, the guileless atonality refreshing, with reams of footage as proof. Still, the film indulges in some excruciating fawning, it's chorus of hip cognoscenti waxing on.
It's unwatchable. Just downright unwatchable.
Okay, well, when it's focusing and talking to Jad and Dave Fair or their parents, it's kinda funny and kind of interesting. Jad's got some good quotes here, like saying the only chord he needs to play his guitar is the one that goes into the amp. The Fairs all seem like honest oddballs and Half Japanese has made some brilliant songs, so this seems like the kind of thing I'd like.
But then the other people show up. The guy from Spin. The guy from Matador Records. Mo Tucker. They just completely ruin this whole movie. They constantly berate and belittle everything and everyone who isn't in Half Japanese or isn't a fan. I…
I rented this because it was a staff pick at the record store named Rainy Day in Olympia. I also bought two small pins. One has the Suspiria poster art on it, while the other says Bauhaus. Anyway, I've heard of Half Japanese, and read the name Jad Fair in different books and magazines. Now, after watching this documentary I've heard them, and I know who they are. These guys were the pioneers of the original indie rock sound. This was made in 1993, so it was still that tiny, golden window of time when weirdness was lauded, and the underground was accepted above ground to be itself, before it was crushed by the masses. Half Japanese reminds me of…
Save us from the willfully obscure, curmudgeonly, self-righteous white male music nerds... like me.
Cool band, and the live footage and interviews with the Fair brothers and Moe Tucker are great. The Penn Jilette bit was pretty entertaining too lol.
However...I’m not a violent person, but GOD how I wanted to slam Byron Coley’s face into the face of the other smug indie dude whose name I refuse to look up. An inexcusable amount of the doc is those two jerks talking, and while it’s a little easier to take if I pretend they’re Mr. Show characters, even then listening to them is borderline physically painful. Consider yourself warned...
Half Japanese songs interspersed with doughy 90s men complaining about "mtv these days."
Laugh at the hipsters and/or bask in their cool, gotta admit Jad is rad
Still convinced the dude with the soul patch is a character from Slacker or maybe a Mr. Show sketch.
Half Japanese are maybe the only band I truly love where I would implore anyone interested in them NOT to check out the documentary about them.
anti-stylish 90s doc that follows a lot of the same conventions that would define the rock-doc genre.
introduction
band
Music journalist
performance
band
music jounralist
performance
other musicians
performance
record label guy
etc...
that being said, a lot of these people (The founder of forced exposure, Penn without Teller, Mo Tucker) are quite interesting and accomplished in their own right, so it has more juice than most modern music focused docs.
