This is the astonishing story of Roger “Roky” Erickson, a man known only to few. In terms of innovation in the field of music easily on the same level as Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison, Erickson survived all the madness, drugs and personal problems of the 60s and 70s, however at a high price. Recording two essential albums with the 13th Floor Elevators in the early phase of psychedelic rock, some even claim the man invented the genre, he got diagnosed schizophrenia early in his career. After getting sentenced due to possession of a ridiculous amount of Marijuana he gets handed into “Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane” for quite some time. Despite the heavy electroshock treatment he manages to give his career another push in the 70s. His past, the broken family, his state of health, ex-wifes, etc.. catch up at some point, so at the beginning of the 80s he lives withdraw in poverty and in custody of his, in my opinion not 100% sane, mother.
The story catches up roughly 20 years later when his brother Sumner decides to help the run-down man to bring his life back. Interestingly all of the other 3 brothers next to Roky and Sumner seem also a little weird. Sumner has somehow overcome this, lets call it displaced view on reality, by the help of a therapist, to which he takes Roky after wining a lawsuit against his mother. This therapist must have made a fortune out of the two brothers, nevertheless also with her assistance Roky Erickson became better and began performing again in 2006.
Diese Dokumentation überzeugt mit tiefen Einblicken in die Welt von Fela Kuti. Viele der Aufnahmen und Interviews entstanden direkt in der Kalakuta Republic, dem Wohnort von Fela und seinen 27 Frauen. Auch in den frühen 80ern ist dies noch ein sehr von Armut geprägter Ort und es wird schnell klar, dass Fela Kuti mit inzwischen unzähligen Plattenveröffentlichungen und einigen (Welt)tourneen nie das große Geld gescheffelt hat. Andererseits scheint er sehr zufrieden mit seinem Leben und mit seinem Lebensmittelpunkt in Lagos, ein Moloch von einer Stadt, scheint er sich inzwischen arrangiert zu haben. Das ist um so beeindruckender, wenn man bedenkt wie Fela Kuti von der Regierung schikaniert wurde. Dies wird exemplarisch auch im Film dokumentiert.
Zu Wort kommt meist nur Fela, was auf Dauer ein bisschen einseitig wirkt und natürlich einen sehr subjektiven Blick auf alles wirft. Zwangsläufig wird er dadurch auch zu einem Helden stilisiert, der er in Wirklichkeit nie war. Von außen betrachtet wirkt es auch leicht überzogen, wenn Fela erzählt nur er könnte Nigeria vor dem Untergang retten. Wer seine oder die Biographie von Tony Allen gelesen hat, weiß, dass das so nie funktioniert hätte.
Auch wenn Fela 1980/81 bereits seinen musikalischen Zenit überschritten hat, bekommt man dennoch einige eindrucksvolle Bilder aus dem Schrein, Felas Nachtlokal, zu sehen, sowie einige Aufnahmen von Proben der Egypt 80.
Irgendein Russe hat die Dokumentation auch in voller Länge auf Youtube gepostet. Bei Interesse einfach schnell rüber-surfen und anschauen.
On the official imdb entry of the documentary on the Cartoonist Robert Crumb you can find the Taglines „Wierd Sex“ „Obsession“ and „Comic Books“ (in this order). This captures the plot of the story only rudimentary. Crumb sketches the character of the cartoonist quite comprehensively, and if you ever stumbled upon this man, you will know why he is what he is after watching this film.
One thing becoming clear during this documentary, as it focuses a lot on the childhood of the man, is that he had a) a talent for drawing and b) a messed up family. The father an overbearing tyrant the mother not much better. The 3 brothers (Charles, Maxon, Robert) became outsiders during the first years of high school. The three of them had to learn to adjust to reality. By judging the film only Robert managed to do so, mainly by accepting that he will never be part of the “normal” American way of life and by staying true to how he is. This way of life brought him a lot of troubles, mainly by people accusing him to be a racist, sexist or pervert. On the other hand this public dispute elevated his reputation as an artist.
On remarkable thing about the interviews is, that Robert Crumb reflects quite often very frankly on his life. One gets more and more the impression that this man is not necessarily the weirdo the press claims him to be, but just a man living within the degree of freedom an artist needs to adopt to (and yes this is most of the time on the verge what is considered tasteful by you and me). This self reflection probably results from the fact, that Mr. Crumb has put almost every major event of his life into a comic strip.
R. Crumb moved to southern France in the mid 1990s and was never a man seeking publicity. As far as I know no written biography exists and so this documentation gives the most intimate look into the live of this strange man.
Year: 1994
Imdb Rating: 8,0/10 (January 2015)
Superflicks Rating: stange 8,9/10
memeorable quote: none
Most of the cast starring in Krush Groove is known to the hiphop aficionado. We got Kurtis Blow, Run DMC and the Fatboys, all of them playing themselves. There is Rick Rubin, playing a character named Rick. On the female side we got Shelia E. as herself, acting as the female counterpart. None of this people mentioned above is a good actor, but after all they are good performers, which gives some sugar to the movie.
Pretty much the own person who doesn’t play himself is Blair Underwood, the protagonist of the story. He plays a made up character named Russell Walker, running a record label with his friend Rick. Form there on it’s all drama. Russell & Rick are broke, have no money to produce the new Run DMC album. Russell falls for the same women than Run. Or was it DMC? The situation gets even more tense, when the obviously shady maior labels step up the game and offer Run-DMC a contract worth 20000$, which Run can not decline in his present situation. Is this gonna end well? And what do the Fatboys have to do with all this. Watch the movie and find out.
Although this is a classic Hiphop Semi-Documentary and certainly a monument in time, it never received the cult status of Wildstyle or Style Wars. This is partly due to the fact that these two movies where documenting an underground culture, where in ’85 the oldschool was over and Hiphop had massive success already. On the other hand Krush Groove is basically Def Jam celebrating themselves, which gives the whole thing a strange aftertaste. However, the performances of so many great artists makes this even.
Year: 1985
Imdb Rating: 6,5/10 (August 2014)
Superflicks Rating: solid 8,1/10
memorable quote: none