Nate and Josh are the band Friends Forever. They live in a rusted-out VW bus and an old truck and drive from city to city holding sparsely attended concerts from inside the van. Their music--a melody-free, grating noise--is secondary to the band's ethos, which has something to do with tearing down the complacent boundaries of rock 'n' roll culture. Director Ben Wolfinsohn's digital video shooting provides a perfect visual depiction for the mind-blowingly bad music, finding claustrophobic corners of the smoke-filled van and providing an intimacy that will make viewers thankful that the disc contains no smell-o-vision option (personal hygiene is lacking both in the band, and in many of the band's biggest fans, who also seem to enjoy projectile vomiting). While there's something refreshing about Nate and Josh's openly admitted ineptitude, the idea is more appealing than the finished result--and like the low-tech band itself, playing without the advantages of tuning or proper tone levels, the film feels like a lot of caterwauling interrupted by moments of (repetitive) disquisition on the band's art rock existence. Optional. [Note: For a film that already overstays its welcome, the DVD's deleted scenes seem unnecessary, but the “Where They Are Now" featurette is worth watching.] Aud: P. (D. Fienberg)
Friends Forever
(2002) 80 min. DVD: $24.95. Plexifilm (avail. from most distributors). Color cover. Volume 18, Issue 3
Friends Forever
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