“Rebel Scum” DVD (director: Video Rahim)

Dirty document of drunken derelicts...

Sometimes, documentaries are welcomed as intimate looks into celebrated artists, celebrities, events, or historical incidents. This is none of the above. “Rebel Scum” looks at Knoxville’s scuzz-punk band the Dirty Works, and particularly their damaged and recklessly self-destructive frontman, Christopher Scum. Now, I’ve been closely involved in underground music and transgressive art for 30 years, and I’d never heard of this band. Is this even a real documentary? Wild Eye Releasing have done some pretty awful films before…hmm.

Regardless, this purports itself to be a real documentary, so I’m reviewing it as such. The band here is pretty much an inept bunch of drunken rowdies, with an audience that numbers, well, maybe in the tens. Mr. Scum, though seemingly a pretty nice guy, has a serious and alarming problem with substance abuse. The film follows the band around, showing some of the most embarrassingly painful scenes — sloppy, slovenly, and sickeningly drunken and drugged.

Why anyone would like to see this is beyond me. There’s little to be said for watching a man and his friends slowly kill themselves. “Rebel Scum” shows a band who are not so much making music as making a desperate cry for help. I hope someone hears it.

Wild Eye Releasing

“Memory Lane” DVD (director: Shawn Holmes)

Flawed indie sci-fi

This indie sci-fi/thriller goes in some interesting directions, for sure, but ultimately doesn’t seem to capture the intensity the subject matter deserves. “Memory Lane” follows a troubled war veteran who meets a lovely lass just as she is about to commit suicide. He ends up in love with the mysterious girl (whose full name he never even knows), even going so far as to buy a ring and a house to share with her. Well, when she ends up dead in a bathtub, he convinces himself that she was murdered, and somehow receives visions or flashbacks when he himself attempts (and fails) his own suicide.

He, with the help of his friends, revisits death (via garage-bathtub-electrocution) to reconnect with these visions, hoping to solve the mystery of his love’s passing. It’s a fairly cool premise, but I failed to feel much for the protagonist and his lover, or their predicament. 

Director Holmes definitely has some skillful flourishes as a filmmaker, and some vision, but the overall execution here fails. Editing needs some work, cameras are overly jerky and lighting/dialogue are obscure and sometimes meandering. The acting here is average, but the film’s pace and cinematography made me lose interest quickly. Yes, this one was tough to sit through.

Wild Eye Releasing