MUSICAL DIFFERENCES : Ondi Timoner’s Dig! [6/10]

Rock-u-mentary Dig! – chronicling the ups and downs of the Dandy Warhols and their pals/rivals The Brian Jonestown Massacre – has blazed an impressive trail around the world's film-festival circuit since premiering at Sundance last January. The picture has racked up awards and critical plaudits, the hype building to the extent that viewers would be forgiven for expecting some kind of Capturing the Friedmans for the music biz. If so, they're in for a disappointment – Andrew Jarecki's exploration of paedophile hysteria still stands supreme among American documentaries of the current decade – but the fact that Dig! can even be mentioned in that kind of company is no small achievement.

Because on the face of it, the subject-matter wouldn't seem to hold much appeal to anyone outside the two bands' overlapping fanbases. The Brian Jonestown Massacre (aka 'BJM') have never had much more than a very sparse cult following, even in their native USA. And while though the Dandy Warhols are much better known – mainly thanks to their smash-hit single from 2001, Bohemian Like You (as heard in Vodafone adverts) – they're hardly household names.

Director Timoner decided to follow the fortunes of both bands a decade ago, assembling over 1,500 hours of footage which she then edited down over a period of four years. The result is a fascinating juxtaposition of two very different approaches to the music business. BJM's Anton Newcombe is a textbook dysfunctional rock-genius: insanely prolific, frustrating mercurial, careering off the rails at every possible opportunity and seemingly determined to torpedo his own chances of financial success. His former best pal Courtney Taylor (aka Courtney Taylor-Taylor) of the Dandys is, by comparison, startlingly level-headed, "playing the game" and plotting his career path with what seems like, alongside Newcombe's excesses, actuarial precision.

The film's arc is a predictable one – no prizes for guessing which of the pair ends up jetting around the world's rock festivals, and which one ends up eking out an existence kipping on indulgent pals' floors. And there is something mildly exploitative about the way Timoner's omnipresent camera lingers on Newcombe's often painful-to-endure self-destructive shenanigans. But Dig! is ultimately an admirably even-handed, amiably rough-edged fable of creativity's clash with commerce – and the psychological damage such a system can wreak.

Neil Young
1st April, 2005

DIG! : [6/10] : USA 2004 : Ondi TIMONER : 110 mins
seen on DVD at home in Sunderland (UK) 30th March 2005
with thanks to Virginia Todd at Tartan Films
originally rated 7/10, but downgraded after further reflection, 10th Oct 2005

click here for Jigsaw Lounge's exclusive interview with Dig! director Ondi Timoner