SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! AN AUDIO MISADVENTURE plays Sunday, 4/10 at Regal Winter Park Village, at 9.30pm, and again on Saturday 4/16, as part of the 20th Annual Florida Film Festival. [details]
By Samir Mathur
Simple set up: Two midwesterners moved to San Francisco after graduating college, and found themselves living next door to a pair of elderly gentlemen, who would get hammered and scream at other every night. So the two youngsters started recording these rants, and they became a cult hit. Artist Daniel Clowes (Ghost World) was among the people who incorporated the rants into his work. As the tapes became more popular, issues arose as to their ownership and copyright. And, of course,the big question is: how do you tell Peter (flamboyant gay man) and Raymond (violent homophobe) that they've become cult heroes for their yelling sprees, which were recorded without their consent.
Before seeing it, I was worried that the film may have little to offer beyond the appeal of seeing old people cussin'. I mean, that's funny and all, but not feature-length funny. Fortunately, there's more to this documentary, which makes it worth a view. The film manages to follow a pretty solid structure, ensuring that its somewhat thin premise remains interesting throughout. So we start with the youngsters (Mitch and Eddie) moving into "The Pepto Bismol Palace, discovering the madness that was just inches away from them, throwing "listen to Pete and Ray" parties at their apartment, then recording and marketing the tapes. From there, it escalates and it's fascinating to see how other artists adapted the recordings: in addition to Clowes' comics, there are puppet shows and even a stage play. That's where things start to get murky in a legal sense. The playwright wants to adapt into a movie, but does he own the rights? Do Eddie and Mitch? And when's somebody going to tell Pete and Ray? (Incidentally, every single person who appears as a fan of the tapes is a man. I can only recall one lady in the entire film, and she has no lines. I'm sure that says something about the appeal of swearing.)
The scenes where they do contact Pete about the tapes (Ray having passed away already) is pretty emotional. He's much older when they meet him, and doesn't really understand what he's being told, and accepts $100 from them to sign away his rights, and it's an intense moment. How do you explain to someone that they're a viral sensation? The film expounds a little about "found audio", including the famous Orson Welles frozen peas tape and the Christian Bale rant from the set of Terminator: Salvation.
Though the film doesn't have answers to the viewer's most important questions - Who were these guys? How did they find each other? Why did they live together when they clearly hated each other? Was it just the drinking? - it's still very entertaining and worthy of your time.
By Samir MathurContributing writer
Simple set up: Two midwesterners moved to San Francisco after graduating college, and found themselves living next door to a pair of elderly gentlemen, who would get hammered and scream at other every night. So the two youngsters started recording these rants, and they became a cult hit. Artist Daniel Clowes (Ghost World) was among the people who incorporated the rants into his work. As the tapes became more popular, issues arose as to their ownership and copyright. And, of course,the big question is: how do you tell Peter (flamboyant gay man) and Raymond (violent homophobe) that they've become cult heroes for their yelling sprees, which were recorded without their consent.
Before seeing it, I was worried that the film may have little to offer beyond the appeal of seeing old people cussin'. I mean, that's funny and all, but not feature-length funny. Fortunately, there's more to this documentary, which makes it worth a view. The film manages to follow a pretty solid structure, ensuring that its somewhat thin premise remains interesting throughout. So we start with the youngsters (Mitch and Eddie) moving into "The Pepto Bismol Palace, discovering the madness that was just inches away from them, throwing "listen to Pete and Ray" parties at their apartment, then recording and marketing the tapes. From there, it escalates and it's fascinating to see how other artists adapted the recordings: in addition to Clowes' comics, there are puppet shows and even a stage play. That's where things start to get murky in a legal sense. The playwright wants to adapt into a movie, but does he own the rights? Do Eddie and Mitch? And when's somebody going to tell Pete and Ray? (Incidentally, every single person who appears as a fan of the tapes is a man. I can only recall one lady in the entire film, and she has no lines. I'm sure that says something about the appeal of swearing.)
The scenes where they do contact Pete about the tapes (Ray having passed away already) is pretty emotional. He's much older when they meet him, and doesn't really understand what he's being told, and accepts $100 from them to sign away his rights, and it's an intense moment. How do you explain to someone that they're a viral sensation? The film expounds a little about "found audio", including the famous Orson Welles frozen peas tape and the Christian Bale rant from the set of Terminator: Salvation.
Though the film doesn't have answers to the viewer's most important questions - Who were these guys? How did they find each other? Why did they live together when they clearly hated each other? Was it just the drinking? - it's still very entertaining and worthy of your time.
Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure - Teaser Clip (Ed and Mitch first hear the neighbors). from Closer Productions on Vimeo.