Mule Skinner Blues

I saw this movie at cinemavillage in New York and this is a great film about never giving up on your dreams and trying to put your personal mark on life. The characters in the film are at first funny and you laugh about the way they talk about becoming entertainers while they are surely not the most brilliant talents that ever lived.

But then their drive to keep going, even when the odds are against them captured me. That sure touched me as a struggling filmmaker who is also not that talented, but I know that if I keep trying maybe I will get some recognition. The film is also a very on-documentary kind of film because it uses all kinds of feature film elements like stylized interviews and dream sequences. The filmmakers clearly wanted to escape from the old fashioned institute that makes most docs so boring that you can't manipulate any thing in "reality". That's bull**** ofcourse because the minute you turn on a camera and decide to point it in a certain direction you are manipulating.

It is likely that the majority of Americans who see this film will quickly label the people profiled within "losers", quickly denying any self-recognition. It is unfortunate that the current American psyche does not seem to find true value in love, friendship, camaraderie, non-commercial creativity of any kind, whether it be music, art, authorship, fashion design, hobbies, because it is quite obvious to me, at this stage in my life, that the "ol' mighty dollar" is not the only thing of value in it. The people featured in this film are multi-faceted, fascinating, and basically tender, loving and LOVABLE. Watching it made me wish for inner peace for them, as well as all Americans, so that they have the emotional freedom to appreciate the "treasures" they have all around them every day of their lives.

"Mule Skinner Blues" is a beautiful, messy, extravagant little documentary made about struggling dreamers by struggling dreamers for the struggling dreamer in all of us.

Go to any film festival that features genuine, undiscovered filmmakers, and you will find a few glamorous filmmakers who use $100 bills for facial tissue, along with hundreds of diehards who have spent all their money. and all the money anyone would give them or lend them, trying to put a little of the love and terror in their hearts on screen.

"Mule Skinner Blues," the song, is about a woman who is pleading for a chance to sing -- to a team of mules. To get away from the boredom and sadness in her life.

"Mule Skinner Blues" is about regular people in rural Florida -- not the richest, but not really the poorest -- who want to sing, write scripts, design costumes, make a horror film, etc. -- to find some way to rise above the pain in their lives, and turn both the pain AND the joy in their hearts into art.

The people in the film talk wistfully about becoming famous, but they're a lot more interesting than the typical twentysomething would-be artiste in the big city, or the typical established artist. First, because they live in a spectacularly beautiful part of northern Jacksonville (even if you DON'T feel the terror, you WILL feel the urge to move into a trailer park); they're older and have better war stories; they have a sense of humor; and, because they're so far from the big money, they're just more real.

When they screw up, they can't fall back on trust funds or Mommy or Daddy. They don't have trust funds, and, for the most part, they don't have living parents. If they have living parents, chances are they're the ones feeding the parents.

If you see the film and come away saying, "Those people are not all that different from the people who made 'Mule Skinner Blues,' or the people back in my neighborhood who have a garage band. Or the old ladies who get together for a quilting club," well, yes. What exactly is wrong with that?????

I think everyone is used to watching Hollywood cannibalize itself. It's so predictable, it's amazing that no one out there seems to catch on. Isn't one definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and always expecting different results? From 27 different Law And Orders to remaking the basic plot of "Halloween" 1000 times over, Hollywood will always find a way to ruin a good thing. Always. It's surprising, however, to see a documentary be such a blatant rip off of another (much better) movie. You'd think with the essentially limitless ideas one can come up with for a documentary, a filmmaker wouldn't have to (or want to) make a blueprint copy of another movie. Yet this movie is pretty much the exact same movie as American Movie. That is, except for the fact that you only catch lightning in the bottle once, and that came in the form of Mark Bourchardt. How those folks found this guy in Wisconsin that wanted to make a horror movie and actually decided to document it is amazing. Muleskinner Blues is pretty much a lame attempt to copy it, right down to the "movie premiere" with the local townsfolk looking on. Rent American Movie instead, for one of the funniest, and most ORIGINAL, documentaries you'll ever see.

I am a movie addict and recently hit a wall with my massive DVD collection. It seemed that I had purchased every film worth owning. I realized this fact as I shopped Tower Records "going out of business" sale. Then I happened upon the Documentary section and realized that was a category I was lacking in. I bought every documentary that sounded interesting and "Mule Skinner Blues" was the best of the bunch. It's greatness lies in its ability to mix humor with genuine feeling. The movie shows compassion for it's low rent, trailer park dwelling characters instead of contempt. There is plenty of comedy in their drunken and eccentric behavior, but I'm sure the cast of real people are laughing along with the audience.

The film is highly stylized in the Errol Morris tradition of documentaries. It blends scenes of the film's subjects dancing on a surreal set, as well as scenes from other movies (Evil Dead 2, etc.)with actual interviews. The main "plot" is a man named Beanie and a guy named Larry Parrot writing and directing a movie about a vengeful ape-man creature and a guitar showdown between the devil and a man. It's all basically just a showcase to display some truly interesting people who live outside society's fringe. The lead guy could be Mark Borchardt from "American Movie" in 25 years. If you liked that movie, you'll most likely enjoy this one as well. The DUI video during the end credits is worth the rental price alone.