The wheels finally came off the terrific streak I was having with my MIFF selection. What caused the wheels to come off? The documentary, Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure. It probably didn’t help that the screening got off to a terrible start. One of the audio tracks wasn’t synching so we missed the audio for roughly the first ten minutes of the film. That’s fine. Things happen. But the crowd were horrid. They kept booing and asking for the film to be started again. Ridiculous behaviour from grown ups, really.
The MIFF program describes the film as…
In 1987, Eddie and Mitch found themselves living next door to Peter and Raymond - a flamboyant gay man and a raging homophobe who fired abuse at each other during nightly liquor-fuelled stoushes. The guys recorded these 'colourful' exchanges through the paper-thin walls and inadvertently created one of the world's first viral sensations - one which inspired a cult following on the cassette-zine circuit, spawned a stage play and multiple film projects, and made its way into the work of comic artist Dan Clowes (Ghost World) and the music of Devo.
Spaning issues of voyeurism, art, privacy and exploitation, this riveting documentary charts the unconventional story of an underground phenomenon.
I think it was the ‘privacy’ and ‘exploitation’ that I had the most trouble with. The in-fighting between Eddie and Mitch and those wanting to use the material they’d recorded seemed petty. Plus, I felt bad for the neighbours, who, while pretty crazy, had no idea the money and notoriety being made off them. I don’t know. Something about it just didn’t sit right with me. I just didn’t get this film. But that’s okay, there was bound to be one.
2 stars!
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