SAM NOW (B+) - A true labor of love, this decades-spanning documentary project tracks half brothers and their relationship with one of their mothers who abandoned her family years ago. It is powered by clips from director Reed Harkness' youthful insurgent videos and an urgent garage-punk soundtrack.
Harkness was nearly a decade older than Sam, who was 14 when Sam's mother, Jois, abandoned him and brother Jared. Harkness made numerous videos of Sam when they were kids, especially silly superhero films, and he uses that momentum to start filming this documentary about 20 years ago when Sam was about 17 and wondering about the whereabouts of his mother.
Harkness turns this into a gonzo road movie, slapping together those vintage clips and goosing them with stop-action graphics and those nerve-jangling psych-rock tunes on the soundtrack. Sam ages into adulthood, and the story deepens as the subject works through his emotional baggage. We see Jois in clips, and she'll eventually surface, and it's interesting to see that while this is a classic tale of abandonment, it's also a tribute to how families cope with whatever curveballs are tossed their way.
It's not a Shakespearean tragedy, but the film earns a place among the best of the Ordinary People genre that I identified with trailblazer Doug Block and his family chronicle "51 Birch Street." Harkness has a big heart and a true gift for visual collages. This homage to his troubled brother never feels self-indulgent, and it's often a joy to watch.
BONUS TRACKS
The Sonics are the star of the soundtrack. Here is "Psycho":
And the Sonics again with the '60s garage classic "Shot Down":
From Oregon, Dead Moon with their lo-fi grunge-era "D.O.A.":
Mid-Nineties Japanese punk band Teengenerate with "Dressed in Black":
A palate-cleanser, Smog's spare, plaintive "Rock Bottom Riser":
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