Review of End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (2003) by Wes B — 22 Oct 2004

[size=2]For the first time ever I feel I might be at a loss for words. Friday night I saw a low-budget science fiction movie called ?Primer? and it is one of the most garbled, incomprehensible messes of celluloid I?ve seen in many a moon.

This film is confusing, technical, and most of all, it is abstract. But it is not abstract in an interesting but perplexing way, like the best films of Terry Gilliam are. It is abstract in an annoying way; it teases the viewer but provides no payoff, no reward for one?s patience. ?Primer? is only 80 minutes long, but it feels a lot longer.

Part of the reason for that is because the film makes not a lick of sense. The plot revolves around two scientists (Shane Carruth and David Sullivan), who build a device. That?s about all I can tell you; at the end of the film, I had no idea what the device really did or how it fit in to the story. The machine the two men build has something to do with teleportation and human cloning, or perhaps the device can alter the space-time continuum fabric in some strange way. At least I think that?s what it does.

If you are clueless reading this, it is because I am clueless writing this. I have had some time to meditate over ?Primer? and what it means and I still cannot make heads or tails of it. I don?t understand what Carruth, who wrote and directed the picture, was trying to say with it. It almost seems like this film exists within its own impenetrable shell; the characters converse in scientific engineering doublespeak that will sail over the heads of most audience members and thus shut out almost everyone who tries to view the film from a non-scientific approach.

So who was this film made for? It?s a question I can?t answer. A film needs an audience to interact with, and if that connection between film and audience is never established, it is merely a waste of the viewer?s time.

Oddly enough, ?Primer? was accepted to Sundance and other American film festivals, and it even won some awards. Much was made about the movie?s $800 budget, but more money would not have helped here. Where this film really needed work was in the script, and indie directors know that?s the cheapest part of the project.

With my head still spinning from the ?Primer? debacle, I took a ride over to Philadelphia the next day to catch ?End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones.? I?ve always loved the seminal 70s punk band; they were a blast of fresh air during an extremely stale period in rock music history. Now that I?ve seen this documentary about the band, I like them even more.

The best element of ?Century? is that it doesn?t prettify the story behind the Ramones; it doesn?t end happily like an episode of VH1?s ?Behind the Music.? It shows the real band, warts and all, exploring the tensions between band members, Dee Dee Ramone?s drug use, the alcoholism that touched all the members of the band at one time or another. Watching this film is a lot like taking an educational tour through the seediest sections of 1970s New York City.

Included in the doc are plenty of interviews with everybody who played in the band, including archival footage of Joey Ramone, and new interviews conducted with Dee Dee Ramone and Johnny Ramone shortly before they died. Other musicians offer their perspectives on the Ramones, including Debbie Harry of Blondie, Joe Strummer of The Clash (conducted shortly before he died in 2002), and Kirk Hammett of Metallica.

Plenty of classic Ramones songs play during the film, such as ?Judy is a Punk,? ?Glad to See You Go,? and ?I Wanna be Sedated.? This documentary is not only interesting and informative, but it rocks, and it?s a must for Ramones fans.

I tend to divide music into two groups. There are artists who make music that matters, and there are artists whose music doesn?t matter. The Ramones fell into that first category, and I treasure their two-minute blasts of anarchic noise just as much as I hold dear the best work of the Beatles and the Stones. So I feel a debt of gratitude to Joey, Johnny, Tommy, and Dee Dee for making things interesting for a while.

And that's my two cents.

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