Harry here... I didn't see A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S RAVE when it played during SXSW last week, and I do know 2 people that liked it and 3 people that loathed it or were indifferent about it. Personally it sounded like a lame thing to me. I'm a bit tired of the whole, let's adapt Shakespeare to the latest teenage thing filmmaking trend. It started with Baz Luhrmann, but never got better. Anyway, here's a self-professed friend of the producer and local Rave scene maker and promoter to tell you what he thought of the film...
Harry & Drew,
IMPORTANT PREFACE:
I am a filmmaker, Austin resident (L.A. native), & a nightclub/rave promoter and (in the most simplistic terms) a "right to party/rave" activist. It is important to know, if you are not already aware -- that the rave/electronic music industry/scene has been the target of focused attacks by the government in their $65 Million a year anti-rave media campaign, as part of their misdirected war on drugs. As an example, by simply grouping a number of drugs together and inventing a new category of drugs labeled "Club Drugs", they instantly placed a crippling stigma on an entire industry that includes musicians, record labels, DJ's, club owners, lighting & sound techs -- you name it... To that end, they have infringed on our many civil liberties and rights, in a way that is directly out of "Footloose" -- even going to the extent of literally attempting to stop people from dancing to electronic music because of it's supposed drug influence. My work as a right to party/rave activist is basically aimed at defending our freedom to assemble, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, mind & body. Part of that work is to try and bring out truthful and fair reflections and representations of dance music culture, instead of the bullshit the public is fed through 60's Minutes, episodes of Dawson's Creek & the local news. I am not talking about hiding the fact that drug use exists in rave culture, but it exists in many sub-cultures, scenes & movements -- not to mention in the mainstream. Not everyone in the rave scene are pill-chewing monkeys. Not everyone who goes to rave is high. Rave/club promoters do not hand out drugs to the people at their parties. I have never witnessed violence at a rave in my many years of raving. Yet these are some of the things that are constantly portrayed in "rave films", and DO contribute to the forming of public opinion on raves/clubs/electronic music culture -- and eventually contribute to law enforcement infringing on our civil rights & liberties. Austin, Texas knows this all too well -- as the local cops and city government have nearly succeeded in killing off an entire sub-culture of music, dance & art. SO -- my review is written from this perspective -- of a filmmaker & film lover, as well as a raver/rave-nightclub promoter/civil liberties activist.
Sincere peace & respect,
CRITIKAL
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*THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SO-CALLED "SPOILERS" (If you can call them that. This film is pretty much as spoiled as you can get.)*
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S RAVE
Well, well, well... what a fucking piece of shit.
The director, Gil Cates, stood before the crowd before the film and described this insulting waste of time & money as this generation’s 'fantasy' answer to Fast Times At Ridgemont High but set in a rave. The film 'stars' (if you can call it that) the horribly miscast, should not be an actor, and would never set foot in a rave Andrew Keegan (O, Ten Things I Hate About You), the overacting and annoying Chad Lindberg (The Fast and The Furious), the insanely miscast and way too uptight and uninteresting to be a raver Sunny Mabrey (The New Guy), the really hot and only girl out of the leading roles I could imagine actually partying with Lauren German (A Walk To Remember), and the ridiculously cast and would never be invited to an underground party Corey Pearson (Summer Catch) -- with cameos from superstar DJ Christopher "my credibility just went down" Lawrence, DJ "I'm actually a very fat man" Irene, and Carrie "god damn I need a paycheck and a drink" Fisher (Star Wars). The "FILM" was "WRITTEN" by Robert "I will never work in this town or any other town again" Raymond.
I went in with great expectations, especially because I know one of the producers. I had a conversation with my friend the producer last year right about when they started shooting. My friend had said that they really wanted to capture a realistic and fair view of the scene. This got me very excited, naturally, because of all the stupid, biased and flat out ridiculous & clueless ways that the rave scene has been represented before.
After viewing the film, I honestly could not be more embarrassed, humiliated and insulted. Although there were a FEW moments that were cute -- and cute ONLY because they played on stereotypes recognizable to me -- as a raver, such as the young "there's too much speed in her ecstasy" candy raver who pulled aside one of the older looking characters and started talking a mile a minute about anything and everything, and then falling in "ecstasy fueled-Love" with the guy in about 10.4 seconds -- but they even screwed that up by eventually having them go have a casual fuck in the backseat of a car.
The basic story is supposedly LOOSELY "based" on A Midsummer Night's Dream. To summarize the story: Xander (Keegan) is in love with Damon's (Pearson) girlfriend Mia (Mabrey). Elena (German) is still in love with her ex-boyfriend Damon. And they are all going to a "Rave" tonight.
Preppy Xander's roommate Stosh is a drug dealer. We know this because he has a funny hairdo, ripped clothes, a stripper girlfriend and a ring through his nose and he has his apartment wallpapered with giant pictures of ecstasy. In between doing fat lines of coke on their bed, Stosh reveals that he is planning to leave the country with his stripper, now that they have stolen some cash from his supplier (see just about ANY other movie involving drugs and drug dealers and you'll see how good that works out.) Stosh has done a fantastic job of hiding these wads of cash. One clear ziplocked bag of cash on display in the front row of the freezer. And the rest, sewed into a god-awful, 80's-era, Italian, leather motorcycle racing jacket -- which was chosen as the perfect hiding place for the stolen money, no doubt because the jacket was also stolen from and belongs to the supplier.
On his way out to the 'rave', Xander, dressed like something out of a Gap commercial, obviously felt his outfit was missing something. What could that be? Why, what every college-jock-preppy-raver needs -- an 80's-era, Italian, leather, motorcycle jacket with fat stacks of cash sewn into the lining, which of course, he'd never notice while driving, walking, running or dancing.
During a semi-lucid conversation with his perpetually crackedout, broke, jobless and deadbeat leech of a friend Nick (Lindberg) who was fired from his job at a Chuck E. Cheese doppelganger as a costumed donkey, about love and all things Amsterdam, both Nick & Xander have asthma attacks and share an inhaler while sitting at a diner having breakfast - this was most likely the "writer" and "director's" failed attempt at foreshadowing something that never really happens later on in the film.
Xander then picks up Elena from her job as a hairdresser -- but not before some "witty" dialogue with a very gay, black, hairdresser about, what else -- being gay, girlfriend!
Meanwhile, the mean ol' drug supplier has showed up back at Xander & Stosh's apartment. Boy is he mean! He shouts a little, beats up our friend Stosh, and the first appearance of a gun is seen (something which for some reason is regular paraphernalia at raves in the film world), as our bad guy convinces Stosh to give up the location of the rave so he can go fetch his precious jacket.
On the way to the "underground rave", Xander runs his Mazda Miata into a ditch. Now they'll have to walk the rest of the way, dammit! Then -- another obstacle! A little suspension bridge over a small creek some whopping 6 feet below, which they seem very scared to cross for some reason. So scared, that Xander needs to suck on his asthma inhaler again (who does he think he is, Sean Astin?).
So they finally arrive at the "rave". Where we finally meet the flaming fairy, Puck. Who is also a drug dealer. But he's nice. And so funny. Mostly because he is so gay. That's what makes him so funny. All those little gay things that gay people do and say. You know how they are, girlfriend!
Puck works for O.B.John, a mysterious British guy lurking in the shadows, who has provided Puck with some extra powerful glowing green pills. Puck walks through the 'rave' with an open cash box full of different types of pills. And as the "ravers" hand over their $20, he places a pill in their eagerly waiting mouths.
O.K. so, at this point -- I am going to stop the synopsis. It has tired me out and is only raising my blood pressure. Besides, if you know Midsummer Night's Dream at all, then you can kind of piece together what happens in the rest of this piece of ass-wipe drivel. Only, throw in an angry drug supplier with a gun showing up later on, some more "funny" gay stuff, lots of drugs being handed out like candy by someone who seems to be one of the promoters of the party and a lot of fucked up people talking about how fucked up they are.
I don't know who they were making this film for, but it certainly wasn't for people in the rave scene - which really are going to be the ONLY people who would be interested in it. Any bit of progress we in the rave scene have made to try and shed positive light on the scene, and to clear up general misperceptions elicited by the mass anti-rave media campaign funded by the governments' "war on drugs" -- was COMPLETELY destroyed with this film. Every single character in the film, with the exception of ONE of the leads were pill-popping E-Tard junkies who spent 98% of the film running around either talking about getting fucked up, looking for/buying drugs or talking about how fucked up they were. The promoters of the party were among the most high & fucked up and were quite complacent with the open selling of drugs by people 'working' on their staff. We got to see violence & guns at a rave -- including one 'inspired' moment when the bad guy runs over a security guard (which just seems funny that they would even HAVE a security guard for a forest underground party where drugs are being sold out in the open by the promoters) before he pulls a gun on Xander towards the end of the film. Raves are shown here as a sexual meatmarket -- which they are most certainly not. For example, Nick says to Xander just before they had out to the 'rave' -- "So you gonna get laid tonight?" -- I'm sorry, but the people who generally go to raves just don't think like that. I mean, we think about sex -- we meet people at a rave -- and the girls are incredibly, amazingly hot -- and THEN we think about having sex -- but it's not like that's what we're going out there to do!
With the exception of the fast-talking candy raver I mentioned earlier, there wasn't a SINGLE raver in that movie. No one danced like a raver. No one dressed like a raver. People waved glowsticks around in the air like idiots -- and if you've ever seen a raver play with their glowsticks, it is a very specific & intricate dance move - none of which was seen in this movie.
The script was a piece of shit with plot points and situations so corny, poorly written, predictable and infantile that it made Jackass the Movie seem intelligent. I have seen better acting in High School theater.
I could not believe that this film was produced by someone I know - and I am insulted that (ONCE AGAIN) my culture and industry has represented as nothing but filled with unintelligent, drooling junkies who drive under the influence, violent drug dealers, guns, car accidents, 'dangerous' suspension bridges, bad dancers with not even enough fashion sense to not wear an 80's era leather Italian race car jacket to a party, people who are supposed to be ravers but don't act, dress, look, dance, feel or talk like ravers -- and NICE GUY COPS?! WHAT?! YES! At the end of the movie, the underground forest 'rave' gets busted by the police. But they are REALLY nice about it. No harassment. No confiscation of equipment. No arrests of promoters. They even let these two cracked out guys (who started out the movie straight, but end up gay -- isn't that funny?!) stay passed out under the shadows of the turntables (which weren't confiscated), because -- as one cop said to the other "Heck, they probably haven't had that good of a sleep in a long time." -- as they chuckle and walk away. AS IF!
It felt like this film was bankrolled by the government/law enforcment's/DEA's Anti-Rave Media War propaganda machine -- featuring nice, respectful & polite cops vs. the strung out junkie ravers and violent drug dealers.
It was even bigger insult to debut this in Austin, where the scene has been particularly hard hit and fallen victim to public misperception, the twisting of news media and underhanded law enforcement trickery.
Even if you don't look at it as commentary on a social movement (which I certainly do not), it is irresponsible (especially from someone with as much history and involvement in this scene & it's industry as my friend, the producer has) to continue to feed the misperceptions and falsehoods about our culture -- and extremely disrespectful to those responsible & respectful ravers who love the music, the art and the people -- and especially to those of us who are constantly fighting for the civil rights & freedoms of electronic music/dance culture.
If you saw this movie and you are a raver or just consider yourself a member or fan of electronic music/dance culture, and you actually LIKED it -- then it was only out of your desire to want to have a good, fair and true representation of our scene captured on film. You want it soooo bad (as do I!), that you must have been blinded by the less-than flashy lights and entranced by the dull bassbin beats, triggering some far-off memory of a kick-ass party you went to a year or two or three years ago.
Raving mad in Austin,
CRITIKAL
p.s. I KNOW I am going to get a lot of shit on the talkbacks (if this is posted) about me being a raver, a "right to rave" activist or simply taking this so seriously. I've been around this site long enough to know that. So, bring it on. I'm ready. Just be kind, I mean... what'd I ever do to you?
