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Rereleased documentary study of the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre is an epic story of success and failure

After 20 years, Ondi Timoner has rereleased her riveting and colossal documentary study of two psych rock bands, the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and their epic dual story of success and failure. There is about 40 minutes of extra material and a present-day coda that reveals, among other things, that each band has a member who now sells real estate. That ending, brutally and suddenly visiting grey-haired middle age on these gorgeous rock’n’roll exquisites, reminded me of the Fellini-esque dream opening to Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories in which two trains, one carrying life’s winners and the other with hapless losers, wind up at the same dusty rubbish heap.

Dig! Xx, which took years to shoot, is alternately narrated by the Warhols’ frontman, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, and...

One of the great music documentaries of all-time has received new life. For its 20th anniversary, Ondi Timoner’s Dig! has received a remastered and enhanced version with Dig! Xx, which premiered earlier this year at Sundance Film Festival. Following rival psych-rock bands the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols over a tumultuous eight years, Oscilloscope Laboratories has now announced the North American release, set for January 17, 2025, and debuted a new trailer.

Dig! Xx is a remastered, enhanced remix of the original cult classic. Edited from the original 2,500 hours of footage by David Timoner, who produced and shot the original Dig! alongside his sister, Ondi, this version adds nearly 40 minutes of previously-unseen footage, offering nuance and context to the chaotic journey and love-hate relationships of the musicians featured, and bringing the iconic story up to current day. It also includes new narration from the Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Joel Gion,...

"Is anybody going to get grumpy & irritable and start fighting with each other?" Oscope Labs has debuted the official trailer for a documentary film called Dig! Xx, a brand new update on the classic rock doc Dig! from 2004. Re-directed by Ondi Timoner, Dig! Xx (now 20 years later) is a bigger, better, crazier expanded reimagining of the original cut – reminds us why the original is canon and why sometimes, more is better. Dig! Xx tracks the tumultuous rise of two talented musicians – Anton Newcombe, leader of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Courtney Taylor, leader of the Dandy Warhols, and dissects their star-crossed friendship and bitter rivalry. Through loves and obsessions, gigs and recordings, arrests and death threats, uppers and downers, and ultimately to their chance at a piece of the profit-driven music business, they stage a self-proclaimed revolution in the music industry. This features Courtney Taylor-Taylor, Peter Holmström, Joel Gion, Zia Mccabe.

Once upon a time on the West Coast, two bands were plotting a revolution.

Well, really, it was one musician concocting a grand plan to dismantle the record industry, bring back a massive revival of 1960s psychedelic rock, and achieve total world domination. His name was Anton Newcombe, and this singer/multi-instrumentalist fronted a San Francisco group blessed with one of the greatest names of any 1990s band: the Brian Jonestown Massacre. The only thing better than their moniker was the music itself, which replicated the vintage, acid-soaked sounds of...

At the height of its failure, every day was Altamont for the Brian Jonestown Massacre, the San Francisco outfit founded in 1990 by Anton Newcombe, the Klaus Kinski of psychedelic rock. Just in time for this 20th anniversary overhaul of Ondi Timoner’s breakthrough documentary, the Bjm were back in the news as recently as November 2023, when the first night of an Australian tour ended in a riot. That the riot was confined to the stage, and played out in front of a dumbfounded audience, is Dig! Xx in a nutshell, a welcome return for a film that no less an authority than Dave Grohl calls, in a specially filmed new intro, “the greatest rock ’n’ roll documentary of all time.”

It helps to have a working knowledge of the two bands it features — the Bjm and Portland alt-rockers The Dandy Warhols — but Dig! Xx works on a meta level too,...

Dig!, a documentary about two bands – The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols – is a musical trainwreck, equal parts romantic comedy and horror film that follows the highs and lows of being a musician, in the studio, on the road and in their own heads.

The film, which launched at Sundance in 2004 and is returning to the festival this year with an extended cut, is a favorite among the musical class. I’ve sat in countless tour vans and crappy motels where it’s watched, quoted and dissected by kids with a dream and a drumkit.

Dave Grohl, the legendary Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman, told me that it’s a “f*cking masterpiece” and that it’s also his favorite horror film.

“Watching a documentary like Dig!, seeing these two bands fall in love with each other, which happens often. You find your brother band, your sister band,...

For four decades, Sundance has maintained a reputation as one of the most important film festivals in America for independent filmmakers from around the globe. To commemorate its 40th anniversary in 2024 and the enormity (and reciprocity) of that cultural footprint, festival leadership set a series of restoration screenings to highlight many of the most memorable films programmed throughout its history.

“When you look at the way the independent film movement has evolved and changed over the years, from the maturation of an industry and the opportunities that artists have found, to the way that an audience has been built around the work, you see a festival that has evolved alongside it,” says John Nein, senior programmer and director of strategic initiatives.

This year’s festival takes place Jan. 18-28, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, with a selection of titles available online nationwide from Jan. 25-28. The...

Anniversary screenings include Park City hits Napoleon Dynamite, Mississippi Masala, The Babadook.

Sundance Film Festival has unveiled the 53 shorts as well as the eight films celebrating the festival’s 40th edition – a list which includes Park City hits Napoleon Dynamite, Mississippi Masala, and The Babadook.

The 40th edition celebration screenings and events are set for the second half of the festival from January 23-26, 2024, with a slate of retrospective programming that will bring alumni artists together for conversations and gatherings.

Sundance Film festival runs January 18-28, 2024, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, with a selection of titles...