Jason is a straight edge, rockabilly looking kid who used to be a forty guzzling, black clad punk kid before striking out with Rachel. Rachel was Brian's girlfriend back when he was a boozy punk, but Brian went away to college. While away, Brian became a straight edged emo boy. Rachel was heartbroken that Brian left, and so she turned to Chance, who is still as punk as she is. The labels fly fast and furious in THE EDGE OF QUARREL, which is no doubt the point, if not just a bit disconcerting at moments.
Jason has some of his straight edge friends rough up a punk one night at the club, and when Chance responds by jumping a staright edger, the war is on. It's straight edgers versus punks in this completely ludicrous, yet very entertaining full length D.I.Y. film. Jason seems to have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, except when compared to his enforcer Rolo, who is played by Aaron Edge, because he's just a sociopath. Jason wears an ENSIGN t-shirt, while Rolo wears an UNDERTOW tee. Just as the war is in full swing, Brian returns home from college, and decides that it's up to him to unite both sides. Chance and Jason each try to pull Brian over to their side while protecting him as much as they can. Nobody is listening except Rachel, who is played by the beautiful Mahdis Keshavarz. I don't want to ruin the ending, except to say that there are a couple of far fetched twists that can only be called copouts. Perhaps SLC PUNK wasn't as far fetched as I first thought?
Suburban punk scenes look so foreign to someone who has spent most of his or her life in or very near punk scenes based in major metropolitan areas. Not that the scenes in this film are based in some track housing development, miles and miles away from the nearest big city. It's just that it looks and feels like the straight edgers and punks in Chris Larson's film aren't that far removed from the kind of characters you might encounter in some ill conceived Fox series. I liked it more for that reason. It is still an escapist form of entertainment, and a welcome piece of filmaking for any punk who enjoys such endeavors. ($12.00 ppd c/o Excursion, PO BOX 20224, Seattle, WA 98102)

WHAT ABOUT ME is the story of Lisa Napolitano (Rachel Amodeo), who after the death of her aunt, descends into a life of desperation on the streets of New York's Tompkin's Square Park, and the Lower East Side. After she is forced to sell her prized doll collection, and after the cheap hotel managers no longer allow her to sleep it off for a while, Lisa quickly becomes a sick and lonely bag lady. She is given little bits of hope by the various characters she encounters on her way down. Characters like the sympathetic Vietnam vet who quickly turns into the obsessive and at times abusive boyfriend she falls in love with, or the Lower East Side artist who turns Lisa on to crack cocaine and squatting, and who can forget the paranoid lesbian couple who try to keep Lisa from reporting an accident they actually caused, while subtley attempting to get Lisa into their bed. These short moments are never enough to fully distract either Lisa or the viewer from the reality of her situation. It is a situation that is only getting worse. Her only true, long term hope is that her brother the musician will come home to New york and save her. It's a question of pride for Lisa, but she is either too proud or too stupid to tell him about her current plight. One thing is for sure, Lisa is too sensitive for the harsh realities of life on the New York streets.
WHAT ABOUT ME was first released in 1993, and it features some suprisingly good acting by a handful of New York underground legends. Strong performances by Richard Hell, Gregory Corso, Nick Zedd, Rockets Redglare, and - maybe most impressive of all - Johnny Thunders help to elevate this piece of work, but it's writer, director, and lead actress Rachel Amodeo that keeps "What About Me," from ever approaching that plane of existence where mediocrity reaches up to pull lesser films into the obscure abyss where the works of lesser filmakers reside. Amodeo, and her primary male lead Richard Edson (STRANGER THAN PARADISE, DO THE RIGHT THING), are mesmerizing in their portrayels of two down and out, lost souls on the streets of New York. For some ridiculous reason, WHAT ABOUT ME languishes in the cult sections of a select few video stores, instead of playing the art house theatre circuit, where it belongs.
(Provisional Distribution)

Wow, underground films, that's a tempestuous category. I'm not going to pretend that I'm entirely learned in this subject and start throwing out Kenneth Anger, Maya Deren, Chris Marker, Bruce Connor or Stan Brakowitz titles willy nilly. I'll stick with what I know (to an extent) and list five flicks that have made an impact on me since I've been aware of "underground films".

1. Tribulation 99 -- without a doubt the strongest use of found footage to create an alternate narrative -- and one whose truth resounds.
2. Troops -- it wasn't the first cross-genre parody but it triggered a strong of follow-ups and wannabes. Some of them were even better than Troops (SWING BLADE) while many, many others just sucked. I feel that Troops even helped kick off the desire/gumption to parody the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT -- and that's an entire chapter of indie/underground tribute/parody films.
3. The Robert Tilton Video -- so popular that I've seen no less than two separate cuts of this video. It involves televangelist Robert Tilton feeling "the power of the lord" through flatulence that's been cleverly dubbed in.
4. Fruit Cake -- Is it real or is it fake? Either way this video by Huck Botko is the best out of a string of mean-spirited revenge documentaries in which Botko taints food for someone he feels "done him wrong." A must-see for the squirm factor alone.
5. Frog Baseball -- No matter how you slice it, Mike Judge's Beavis & Butthead characters have changed the face of television and pop culture. Starting with this crudely animated piece that toured around with animation festivals (most notedly Spike & Mike), "Frog Baseball" was immsensely popular on this circuit and it's a wonder it managed to cross-over and stake a claim. Between this and "The Spirit of Chrismas" by Trey Parker & Matt Stone, animation and youth culture would never be the same.

As for distribution, I'm clueless. As for getting your stuff seen, this may sound dumb but *make it available*. Don't be afraid to dub your work for folks who want it and to allow others to do the same. I've gotten many a good underground film to review but the filmmaker has no clue/plan on getting copies out to other folks who want to see it.
That said, send your tapes to film festivals -- there's more than enough to go around. Look for fests with nominal/no entry fees. If you get refused, keep trying. Even if your film sucks there's a slot out there at some film festival somewhere. Same goes for underground press -- look up movie zines or zines that do movie reviews (a lot of punk zines do, I've found) and send your tape in. Package it attractively and send a picture or some "press material". Reporters dig that shit.

EXIT is an avant garde film shot in Baltimore, Atlantic City, Washington D.C., and Elliot City, Maryland. That's a fairly well traveled shoot for such a short film. The Atlantc City scenes are key, as are the scenes shot at a train station, which gave me hope for a moment that EXIT might be informed by the legendary avant garde film CASTRO STREET. This was not to be however, and EXIT soon turned out to be more on the abstract side of filmaking. The inclusion of a soundtrack featuring the filmmakers own noise band, MY AREA CODE IS 410, turns out to be key in helping to reveal what the message in EXIT might actually be. That is that escapism in all its forms will never help one avoid the inevitable. Eventually we all die, and eventually the human race will be extinct. To take it even further, the planet is destined to die, and that will be the biggest exit of them all.
($10 PPD, Paul Timer Films, 5210 Windmill Lane, Columbia, MD 21044)

I also wanted to mention that Jon Moritsugo's great film FAME WHORE, that crosses SHORT CUTS with John Waters, is now available on video. It is available from: Apathy Productions. PO BOX 210535, San Francisco, CA 94121. Don't miss this film folks, or else.