The Heck With Hollywood!

If more feature films were as much fun as Doug Block's entertaining documentary about independent filmmaking, going to the movies wouldn't be the depressing experience it so often is today. Block follows the travails of three independent filmmakers who, possibly not being of sound mind, sunk their minuscule fortunes as well as any future children's birthrights into the making of a full-length motion picture, and then--ha!--tried to get it on a movie screen in front of a paying audience. Although they weren't aware of it at the time, scaling the Himalayas backwards, hopping on one foot, blindfolded, is a piece of cake by comparison. But it's precisely that naiveté coupled with an admirable spirit of determination in the face of adversity (often vocal, often negative) that makes the adventures of Ted Lichtenheld, Jennifer Fox, and Gerry Cook a classic standoff between the little guy (or gal) and the forces of commercial America. For four years, Block kept up with the (mis)fortunes of his subjects, from lukewarm receptions at screenings to cutting deals with distributors to (two of) the films actually reaching theaters. Clips from the films (Lictenheld's comedy-drama Personal Foul, Jennifer Fox's documentary Beirut: The Last Home Movie, and Gerry Cook's comedy Only a Buck) are intercut with interviews of the filmmakers. And even though, critically speaking, Only a Buck looked to be the least of the trio in terms of quality, the efforts of Gerry Cook and his compadres to direct distribute his film on video from the back of a decorated Winnebago is both funny as hell and a fine example of American ingenuity and panache at its best. A moving mixture of comedy and despair, The Heck With Hollywood! offers a strange paradox: you'll find yourself wanting to make your own independent movie, even though every frame of the film persuasively argues that you'd have to be certifiably insane to attempt it. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (Available from: Direct Cinema Limited, P.O. Box 10003, Santa Monica, CA 90410-9003; (800) 525-0000.)