No Wave

LYDIA LUNCH: THE WAR IS NEVER OVER (B+) - This spirited 75-minute documentary spans the life and career of Lydia Lunch, a true original ultra-punk who still walks the walk. No Wave contemporary Beth B is behind the camera, so don't expect this to be critical or anything other than a dumpster dive into the good ol' days.

The women present an engaging nostalgia trip to 1970s New York, when that grimy city unleashed a torrent of underground music and film. The film conveys a good sense of the insurgency that Lunch spewed back in the day and stayed faithful to over the years. Contemporaries and acolytes offer colorful recollections and perspectives, including Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Donita Sparks (L7) and Carla Bozulich (Geraldine Fibbers). 

It takes a while for Beth B to delve into the abusive childhood that created the foundation for Lunch's angst and pain, the source of those primal screams. A final scene shows Lunch interacting with audience members at a recent live show, and it makes you wish we were privy to more examples of Lunch connecting with her audience rather than serving as a historical figure. But there's plenty of interviews and archival footage to provide a strong sense of the woman, artist and sexual adventurer. I was never a fan, but this project communicates the maelstrom and joy in Lunch's work.

ATTENBERG (2012) (A-minus) - Meet the inexperienced young woman, in her natural habitat. In this quirky Greek film, we follow Marina (Ariane Labed), a socially awkward -- borderline wooden -- young woman smitten with the nature documentaries of David Attenborough and dealing with her terminally ill father, Spyros (Vangelis Mourikis), with whom she is particularly close.

Marina relies on her more normal friend, Bella (Evangelia Randou), for lessons in French kissing and other standard activities of young adults. The two women are frequently filmed in choreographed perambulations, emulating freakish birds and other animals in the wild. Marina eventually finds a boring man to lose her virginity to. 

Writer-director Athina Rachel Tsangari (a collaborator with Yorgos Lanthimos) presents a melancholy examination of not only this spectrumy young adult but also the small-town gloom and post-industrial ennui embodied by the dying Spyros, who refers to himself as a "toxic remnant of modernism." He tells his daughter that their society has failed. "We built an industrial colony on top of sheep pens," he laments, "and we thought we were making a revolution. ... I leave you in the hands of a new century without having taught you anything." 

So maybe Marina is lucky to exist outside of society's norms. Her journey is a fascinating one.

CHARLIE IS MY DARLING (1966/2012) (B) - In the wake of the death of Charlie Watts last month, the Guild Cinema presented this documentary about the Rolling Stones' tour of England and Ireland in 1965-66. A short film was originally released in 1966 and then lost; it was restored and expanded in 2012.

The boys come off as rather thoughtful as they navigate their own fame in the echo of Beatlemania. Jagger, in particular is somewhat insightful; in one interview he points out that these kids seeking to rebel against their parents' conformity will be grandparents before the world truly changes. He is now a grandfather, and the world has finally made progress, as these Boomers move on. 

The live performances at theaters, shot with handheld cameras, have a ferocious energy. "The Last Time" and "Round and Round" sound fresh and invigorating; even "Satisfaction," their recent hit at the time, sounds urgent and a little dangerous. The talent is off the charts. Richard, during downtimes is almost always playing guitar or piano, music pouring out of his pores. The lads do impromptu jam sessions -- a reverent Beatles medley, a mocking of Elvis Presley and Fats Domino, a couple of jolly old standards. 

This cross between "Help!" and Dylan's "Don't Look Back" doesn't stand up to either of those great films, but at 64 minutes it's a fascinating time capsule of a band exploding into fame.