Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, July 13:
MILFORD GRAVES FULL MANTIS
Director:
Jake Meginsky
Co-Director:
Neil Young
Premiere:
Rotterdam 2018
Select Festivals:
SXSW, CPH:DOX, Sheffield, Art of the Real, Sarasota, Indielisboa, Maryland
About:
An eclectic portrait of the avant-garde jazz percussionist.
Faced with the eccentricities of their singular subject, director Meginsky and co-director Young take a decidedly non-conventional approach to this profile. Those unfamiliar with Graves’ biography or musical accomplishments will only glean very basic background information here through archival footage of past performances. Instead, the uninitiated is more likely to learn about the titular subject’s unusual world view, interest in martial arts and gardens, theories about physiology and their relationship to tonal scales, and the like. Less a biography and more a master class in whatever crosses Graves’ mind at the moment – sometimes intriguing, but often just shy of nonsensical – this free-ranging film will likely strain the patience and goodwill of most viewers, though the musician’s fans will likely find much more to appreciate.
what (not) to doc 