MOVIE REVIEW

Towncraft

Notes from a local scene
Director: Richard Matson

Matson Films

I could not finish watching this documentary. It just did not grab my attention. If you want to see a film about punk music, see Punk's Not Dead, the expansive, thorough, fascinating look at thirty years of punk by director Susan Dynner.

For Towncraft, some guys talk about the scene in Little Rock in the late 80s. It is not all that compelling though. First, I could not get a sense of who any of the people speaking were. Second, there is very little live footage shown. Overall, poor execution for a music documentary. I just didn't care. It may have started right in the first 10 minutes when some unidentified guy [before the film's title] said that he had been around and never seen a scene where bands get along like they do in Little Rock. What about Boston or Seattle? Okay, Boston and Seattle are bigger cities and there is much more going on in each city, so that would influence a music scene. Bill Clinton's hometown of Little Rock has two million people and is really a poor Southern state.

When one musician said that Little Rock is "not southern, not Midwestern and not Texas" that got my attention a bit. Unfortunately nothing backed this up. How did this affect the scene? Sure, guys started zines and some bands moved to California or D.C. [thriving punk scene there], but every city has a band that moves out to try to get signed to a major label.

Steele recommendation: skip it (unless you are a major major music fan).

inmag.com P.O. Box 709 Hollywood 90078 323-874-5726 info@inmag.com

Home | Actors/Models | Art | Books | Dining
Film & Video | Food & Wine | Health & Fitness
MediaWatch | Money and Business | Music | Profiles
Professional Services | Sports | Style & Fashion
Technology | Theatre | Travel & Leisure

---

Copyright © 1995 - 2008 inmag.com
inmag.com (on line) and in Magazine (in print)
are published by in! communications, Inc.
www.inmag.com