Cinema of the World

Quote:
Like the fuzzy history of the Zapruder film or the legendary saunter of the Patterson Bigfoot footage, the short rock doc Heavy Metal Parking Lot proves that length is in no way a direct correlation to any kind of timeless point-and-stare curiosity. Passed around over the years via sloppy VHS dubs since its East Coast public access television debut in the mid-1980s, this feature runs just under 17 minutes, but in that time it packs a weird comic wallop, operating under the simple premise of interviewing a batch of long-haired tailgating stoner types partying it up in the parking lot of the Largo, Maryland Capitol Centre before a Judas Priest/Dokken concert in 1986.

Filmmakers John Heyn and Jeff Krulik don't seem to be operating under any preconceived agenda, and just allow the exuberantly inebriated masses to shout into the microphone, praising their love of metal, Priest and the need to party hard. One of the film's iconic characters is the so-called Zebraman, clad in matching zebra-pattern spandex, top and bottom. He easily spouts some of the best random lines, boldly condemning Madonna and punk, while offering his own deep philosophy of life, with a denouement that everything "sucks shit" and that heavy metal rules. That's pretty direct, and ends up being the basic sentiment throughout.

It's easy to chuckle at the belly-shirt of the supposed metalhead pestered to do air guitar, who ends up strumming to a Beach Boys song of all things, or stare and shake your head at the 20-year-old with the 13-year-old girlfriend. There's a neverending wall of guys with no shirts driving Camaros or girls with big hair sipping Budweisers and smoking something that doesn't quite resemble a cigarette, all swaggering with the same the numb stoner glee. According to the majority: Priest rules.







http://www.filesonic.com/file/875031401/HeSHrcArlOt.mpg

no pass