Beaver Trilogy (1985)
OK, it's not what you might be thinking. This is a unique trilogy in that the first film is basically a documentary, and the following ones are fictional recreations of it. I use documentary in a fairly loose sense as The Beaver Kid consists of film maker Trent Harris filming an entertainer-wannabe, "Groovin'" Gary from a small town in Idaho known as Beaver. He first sees him by chance in the parking lot of a local television station, where Gary immediately gravitates to the camera and begins doing celebrity impressions and generally hamming it up.
He fatefully notes that he does a great impression of Olivia Newton-John, but says he'd better not do it without his backup. Harris later gets a letter from Gary asking him to come to a talent show in Beaver where Gary will be making an appearance as Olivia Newton-Don. We next see Gary donning his make up and costume at a morticians (supposedly the only person in town who does make up.) As Harris films this process it's clear that Gary feels a little uncomfortable revealing his own enthusiasm for dressing up as a female pop star.
The talent show is predictably ameturish and it's obvious that Gary is more invested in what he's doing than he wants to admit. It's uncomfortable to watch, but it seems that Gary is pretty happy with how things turn out.
Although this "documentary" is entertaining, it wouldn't really stand out without the following films. It's a bit too haphazard to really work well, although that is also its strength in that it gives you an unexpected insight into an intersting person that you would otherwise never know anything about. The following films explore the character of Gary (who becomes Groovin' Larry) focusing on the tragic conflict between his aspirations and apparent proclivity for cross-dressing, and the reluctance of those around him to accept these things.
The first short stars Sean Penn. It's pretty satirical, showing Larry to be rather self absorbed and making the film maker himself out as a cynical exploiter. It's decent, but the gem here is the third movie The Orkly Kid starring Crispin Glover as Larry. It has the highest production values, and a more subtle and sympathetic portrait of Larry. Crispin Glover is definitely in his element, especially when he is in his "Olivia Neutron-Bomb" persona.
I don't think that the point of these movies is to try to accurately recreate Gary's story, but more to explore Gary's persona in an obviously fictionalized (at times ridiculous) way. The Orkly Kid really suceeds in particular, and alongside the documentary footage is an intersting example of how real life can become fiction.
By the way, if you want to watch this movie (I recommend you do!) you'll have to find a rental place that stocks underground and cult movies, i don't think there's an official vhs or dvd release of this. In Chicago you can get it from Odd Obsessions on Milwaukee in Wicker Park.
He fatefully notes that he does a great impression of Olivia Newton-John, but says he'd better not do it without his backup. Harris later gets a letter from Gary asking him to come to a talent show in Beaver where Gary will be making an appearance as Olivia Newton-Don. We next see Gary donning his make up and costume at a morticians (supposedly the only person in town who does make up.) As Harris films this process it's clear that Gary feels a little uncomfortable revealing his own enthusiasm for dressing up as a female pop star.
The talent show is predictably ameturish and it's obvious that Gary is more invested in what he's doing than he wants to admit. It's uncomfortable to watch, but it seems that Gary is pretty happy with how things turn out.
Although this "documentary" is entertaining, it wouldn't really stand out without the following films. It's a bit too haphazard to really work well, although that is also its strength in that it gives you an unexpected insight into an intersting person that you would otherwise never know anything about. The following films explore the character of Gary (who becomes Groovin' Larry) focusing on the tragic conflict between his aspirations and apparent proclivity for cross-dressing, and the reluctance of those around him to accept these things.
The first short stars Sean Penn. It's pretty satirical, showing Larry to be rather self absorbed and making the film maker himself out as a cynical exploiter. It's decent, but the gem here is the third movie The Orkly Kid starring Crispin Glover as Larry. It has the highest production values, and a more subtle and sympathetic portrait of Larry. Crispin Glover is definitely in his element, especially when he is in his "Olivia Neutron-Bomb" persona.
I don't think that the point of these movies is to try to accurately recreate Gary's story, but more to explore Gary's persona in an obviously fictionalized (at times ridiculous) way. The Orkly Kid really suceeds in particular, and alongside the documentary footage is an intersting example of how real life can become fiction.
By the way, if you want to watch this movie (I recommend you do!) you'll have to find a rental place that stocks underground and cult movies, i don't think there's an official vhs or dvd release of this. In Chicago you can get it from Odd Obsessions on Milwaukee in Wicker Park.
posted by Chris @ 7:31 AM
1 Comments:
At 11:17 AM,
Anonymous said…
i thought it was really good how there were cuts from the original actual talent show in the sean penn-acted version. and also when crispin glover sat on a tack.
what made me cringe was the exploitation and character assassination happening against real-life gary. i'm still trying to decide how to think of the two re-makes in reference to the original. they're obviously not just recreations of the original, since small details (names and locations) were changed. but, they did make me uncomfortable. even though they were really good.
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