ROADIE

[Chris Baker]

Watched ROADIE recently and was very surprised.  I'd heard that it concerned
a guy who'd been fired after working for BOC for 26 years, but had assumed
that the choice of band was more or less random - or that the band was
chosen as "representing" something (superannuated music, bygone times...)

Thus it came as a shock that this was clearly made by guys
(director/co-writer Michael Cuesta and writer Gerald Cuesta) with a great
knowledge of and love for the band's music.  The song choices are unerringly
on-target and extremely surprising - there are five BOC songs in the credits
and four of them would be in my top ten.  Actually four of them would
probably be in my top five.  A couple of them get heard almost in their
entirety, and in contexts for which they are perfectly suited.  And other
stuff gets name-checked, including a long monologue about a specific guitar
solo from Œ74 which comes across like echoes of over-enthusiastic jabbering
I did when I was 15, which is pretty much the point.  There¹s also love
shown for other area faves the Good Rats and the Ramones.

I don¹t think I knew Ron Eldard (who¹s from LI originally) from anything,
but he¹s extraordinarily good in the lead, and Bobby Cannavale and Jill
Hennessy (as the couple he reconnects with upon returning home to Queens)
are likewise excellent.  Actually the casting is pretty much flawless across
the board.

There¹s also a remarkably affecting singalong to a Robin Trower song (and
yes I¹m completely aware of how ludicrous that sounds).

One odd note:  the end music credits are studded with an amazing array of
gaffes and typos (Alex Bouchard?  DeDe Ramone?  Perlman?  (who incidentally
gets credit on a couple of songs that he deserves none on, although there¹s
at least a precedent for one of them).

The only BOC-related thanks I saw in the credits was to Steve Schenck.  This
surprised me a bit, although on reflection:  the whole film is serving as
something of a love letter to the band and its music.

A smart, funny, touching, surprising and distinctive movie by any measure,
but absolutely unmissable if you love the band.

-Chris