Is It Really So Strange?

And the answer is yes. Yes, it is.

A friend got me to buy Morrissey's You are the Quarry three years ago in San Francisco; she did it by playing up the politics of "America is Not the World." (A good way to capture my interest in anything...) Since then, I've heard more Smiths or Morrissey songs, again mainly through other people -- I've had one song passive-aggressively emailed to me, and have enjoyed singing along when a friend has taken a personal karaoke CD of Smiths songs to various karaoke bars.

Is It Really So Strange? is a collection of interviews with Morrissey fans in and around L.A. Apparently, a huge amount of the fan base there is Latino. And/or gay. So the documentary tries to give voice to this particular fan phenomenon by recording conversations with mostly Latino kids who regularly attend Morrissey-themed events throughout the Inland Empire.

It's an interesting topic for a documentary, and I think it could've been mined for a lot more than it actually was. The most interesting points of the interviews were when fans attempted to explain why Latino kids related in such large numbers to the lyrics of a singer from Manchester. And not just felt moved by the music, either -- the kids mimic the hair and fashion of their idol as well. It's a whole fascinating subculture that has no easy or wrong explanations. (Apparently some mainstream media picked up on the Latino fan base before the documentary producer, though -- he mentions a few news agencies that did segments before him.)

The segments where the fans are speculating about Morrissey's sexuality, politics, and views on race are less interesting.

The problem is, I don't think the documentary had a budget. At all. Because the camera is a camcorder obviously on a tripod half the time, and the shots that aren't interviews are just photos on a table or wall.

And for a film about why Latino and/or gay fans in LA are moved by one artist's music, there's absolutely no music until the closing credits. So if the viewer is unfamiliar with any songs by the Smiths or Morrissey, you have no idea what everyone's talking about when they mention specific songs that they felt validated their social alientation or prompted them to come out to their parents. (Maybe there were royalty issues involved, and the writer/producer didn't feel like paying...)

I liked it, though. It could have gone deeper, interviewed more people, edited and packaged better. But for what it was, it was pretty good. Definitely creative.

My favorite T-shirt featured in the film: "Hispanic on the Streets of London." =) Hahaha!