USA,
2003, 96 min
Shown in 2004
CREDITS
- dir
-
Gavin Dougan
- prod
-
Chapin Wilson, Gavin Dougan
- scr
-
Gavin Dougan
- cam
-
Ed Myers
- editor
-
Jeff Cooper, Todd Sali
- cast
-
Rob Mallard, Eisa Davis, Kebbi Williams, Patrick Byrne, Meghan Marx
- source
-
Brass Tacks Productions, 915 Broadway, Ste. 1, Venice, CA 90291. FAX: 310-581-4966. EMAIL: g.dougan@comcast.net.
- premiere
-
World Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Gavin Dougan in person.
OTHER
A from-the-ground-up look at jazz—its sound and its soul—Brass Tacks tags along with its musician characters through the streets and studios of Atlanta as they struggle to turn their talent into success, or at least into a way to escape. In a real world where MTV and VH1 never film, six young jazz musicians work construction and other blue-collar jobs in order to fund their dreams of musical success. Fighting with outsiders and with one another, they must succeed in a business where “units moved” means more than artistry and where jazz, alas, tends to linger last. Director Gavin Dougan gathered his musician cast from all over the United States, focusing not only on acting talent, but musical. Here, live performance is as important as the narrative: Dougan used three cameras and top-flight recording technology to capture the film’s many performances, with each number presented exactly as the cast members played it live. Lead actor Rob Mallard has played with everyone from Sun Ra’s band to John Zorn, while lead actress (and Berkeley native) Eisa Davis is a poet, playwright and pianist. Vibrant in its passion for music (and in its reflection of the ever-shady record industry), Brass Tacks showcases not just the face of contemporary jazz, but its heart.
FACTOID #33
French New Wave actress Jeanne Moreau’s 1974 Festival tribute, called “a veritable orgy” for her fans by the Examiner’s Stanley Eichelbaum, included screenings of four films (The Lovers, Jules and Jim, Bay of Angels and Diary of a Chambermaid), an onstage interview with Moreau and an additional two hours of clips. Running nine to 11 hours (depending on the source), the tribute was the longest recorded at the Festival.
