White Lightnin' (2009)
Deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia, where every man owns a gun and a moonshine still, abides living legend Jesco White, "the dancing outlaw". As a boy Jesco was in and out of reform school and the insane asylum. To keep him out of trouble, his daddy D-Ray taught him the art of mountain dancing, a frenzied version of tap dancing to wild country banjo music. After his father's death, crazy Jesco dons his father's tap shoes and takes his show on the road.
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What a waste of my time!!!
Tied for the best movie I have ever seen
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.
What was the point of using Jes as a reference? There's nothing biographical here. You took his life and made a silly ode to excess? The whole movie looks like a commercial (since the director is a commercial director), and it feels hollow and empty... must be the Croatian setting.I'd expect nothing more than *cough* "writers" at Vice. Trash. It's like a Ministry or Marilyn Manson album. "Look at me, I'm shocking." Carrie Fisher is ridiculously bad. Why would you blow any of your budget on that troll? I just don't get anything about this film. It's exploitive of the South, of Jesco, of addiction and Christianity. It just feels more like a parody than any real honest sentiment.
White Lightnin' is a dark revelation, so filled with poignant and archetypal scenes, great writing and acting, and music that takes ones breath away. I don't know why Edward Hogg and Carrie Fisher haven't gotten many major awards for this gem of a film, including Oscars and Golden Globes. The violence makes this a film not suitable for young people or the "feint of heart." The main character reminded me of many great, damaged geniuses, a Hillbilly Antonin Artaud. The casting of the young and older version of the main character worked so well, and seamlessly, as we go on the spellbinding journey of his life. Carrie Fisher offered a brave and inspired performance. This film is a classic, that deserves to be included on many "great" lists: biography, music, dance, Americana, religion. It is "Songcatcher" in total eclipse.
"I happen to have friends in the "deep south" and their neighbors are moonshiners. Would wake in the morning hearing shotgun blasts, killing wild turkeys? "White Lightnin' puts all the myths of the modern day hillbilly to rest." Hogg is amazing and outrageous at the same time and the cast is strong but the story as cut is just too fragmented for myself to give a slightly better than average review. The film is also too short and I think it needed more narrative to tell the story-line better. Well shot and designed with decent euphoric imagery works like a bad acid trip. Haunting and stays with you equals success for these Filmmakers. Soundtrack is very creative and original, but my only major downer was the too fast, quick cuts editorial. I look forward to this Directors future work for sure! -CSPS-Media
This movie seems to just be arriving in the colonies. I liked it. But I predict a lot of people infatuated -- and rightly so -- with Jacob Young's early 90s West Virginia public TV cult sensation documentary "Dancing Outlaw" may not. Here's why. As someone who can get in his truck (yes, truck) and drive north (yes, I live farther south than Jesco)four hours and be at Jesco's doorstep (OK, put the gun down, hoss)I know there will be gripes about the Southern accents. Didn't bother me. There will be bitchin' and moanin' about the fictionalizationment (I just made that up) of some scenes. Again, didn't bother me. It's an interpretation of the doc, in my opinion. The inclusion of another Boone County legend, Hasil Adkins and his original, maniacal tunes, on the soundtrack is a huge plus. Jesco's real. Some of this was not. Just like the Young's documentary. In the end, it's a colorful story well told.