Driver 23

Reviewed May 11, 1998
Released 1998
Directed by Rolf Belgum

This is a documentary shot in the style of MTV's "Real World" about a Minneapolis-based musician named Dan Cleveland. Dan is in a self-described "progressive metal" band called Dark Horse, and they're hoping to break into the local bar scene. The film is an uneven, unfair, but highly entertaining documentary of Dan's trials and tribulations as he tries to get started in the music business.

From what I could gather, director Rolf Belgum is an art teacher in Minneapolis, and he spent three years filming Dan and his various bandmates. Apparently he used a hand-held video camera and shot the entire film for $750, not including post-production costs. In post-production he blew up the videotape to the correct ratio for the movie screen, and I was amazed at how great it looks. I expected it to look amateurish and to have a videotape quality, but it didn't.

This is more than a documentary about a band trying to break into the business, because Dan suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This is a crippling disease that prevents many people from being able to function in society. Dan's able to hold down a full-time job okay, but he has trouble maintaining personal relationships. He talks non-stop and obsesses over every piece of minutiae imaginable, which drives people insane. For example, he designs a ramp and pulley system to haul the band's gear out of the basement. I know how heavy gear is, and this entire project is unnecessary. He's oblivious to the frustration of his bandmates (who indulge him longer than most people would), while his "prototype" fails again and again. Even if it worked, you can see that it's more work to use the ramp than to simply carry the stuff. None of this deters Dan, however. Instead, it strengthens his resolve to make it work. His disorder robs him of his judgment, and he can't see when something is more trouble than it's worth. More importantly, he can't see how his obsessions drive people away.

When the film opens, Dan is on the maximum dosage of Prozac and half the maximum of another drug (I didn't catch the name). It's scary to see how bad his disorder is despite that large of a dosage, and I wondered what he would be like without the drugs. I knew I would find out sooner or later because the drugs' side effects are so bad, people are forced to take a break from them. It's a vicious cycle, because they're forced to restart the medication when the disorder becomes intolerable again. Dan's stomach problems eventually become so bad, he goes off the medicine and substitutes cigars. He deludes himself into believing the cigars calms him better than the medication did, but it's obvious that his disorder progressively snowballs.

I can tell you from experience this film is very real. I was in a bar band until recently, and this entire movie was deja vú for me. In fact, it was unsettling how comparable my experience was with this one. We went through all of the same things: the lineup changes, the excitement about playing those initial gigs (even though there were only a handful of people), dragging the equipment in and out of the basement, and, believe it or not, the leader of my band also suffered from OCD (thankfully his condition wasn't as bad as Dan's). The parallels between Dan and my bandmate were uncanny.

I mentioned earlier that I thought the film is unfair, and that's because it doesn't treat Dan or his music with the respect they both deserve. When it comes to a documentary like this, the most important aspect is editing. Through editing, you can present your subject in almost any light you wish. You have the power to make someone look petty and small-minded, or selfless and courageous, depending on which footage you use and how you put it together. I give Rolf Belgum kudos for not presenting Dan as a heroic figure that stoically fights to overcome his disorder. That would have been inaccurate and clichéd, but I criticize him for ridiculing Dan in too many places. There were too many times when he set Dan up with one clip and then showed another to make him look foolish. The scenes were funny, but they made me uncomfortable. I felt he deserved better treatment.

One example is when the director asks two of Dan's previous bandmates why they split from Dan while Dan is sitting there. I knew where this was going. Whenever my band tried to constructively criticize our leader, he became defensive and protested ad nauseum. Dan is the same way. Whenever he's criticized, he defends himself endlessly. The positive aspect of this scene is it shows the effect Dan's disorder has on his relationships. As he drones on and on, you watch the ex-bandmates sink deeper into their seats. Their eyes glaze over, and the weariness from their past dealings with Dan overwhelms their faces and bodies. You can see them thinking, "Why did I come back?" On the other hand, I think it's unfair to ask anyone to sit quietly while they're being criticized. Our egos don't allow us to do this without being hurt, and most people have to respond. Rolf could have gotten the same reaction through normal conversation. In other words, he didn't need to instigate the confrontation.

Furthermore, the film destroys Dark Horse's music, which is actually very good. It's nothing original or groundbreaking, but I liked it. It's a cross between Queensryche's initial EP and early Rush. Unfortunately, the film constantly presents it in a bad light. Much of the film takes place while Dan and Sean (his bass player) record a CD in his basement. Surprisingly, most people don't know studio music is recorded one instrument at a time and later combined. Here, we watch as each musician lays their track, and we can only hear that one instrument. When you only hear one track, it sounds bad. People don't understand this, and the audience in the theater laughed heartily throughout the recording sessions.

Nothing is treated more unfairly than Dan's singing. Early on, someone mentions his singing, and we cut to Dan doing a "cat scream" and then cut away. His cat screams are his attempts at a Rob Halford, heavy metal scream, and they're bad. The band knows this, and they beg him off-camera to stop. This is what I was talking about concerning editing. The scream is the first "singing" we hear from Dan, and we don't here him sing again for a long time. It was edited purely for laughs, and we're set up to believe this is a documentary about a man with no musical talent that's driven to make it big. I saw this film in a theater with a mostly middle-aged audience, who obviously didn't appreciate this type of music. The film sets the tone right away, and the audience ridiculed the music for the duration. There's only one time that I remember his singing portrayed positively, and that's during a power ballad. It's just Dan singing with a double-necked guitar (that he built), and the audience was impressed with the acoustic portion. It was the first time I sensed the audience giving his talent any respect. When he hit the distortion and started belting out the lyrics, the entire theater burst out laughing. He played and sang as if he were performing with the rest of the band, but without the drums, bass, and other rhythm guitar, it sounded stupid. I would have edited out the distortion part and given Dan some credit. It would have been different if he were performing in public. In that case, anything goes. In the basement, however, you have to make some allowances.

I have such mixed feelings about this film. It's highly entertaining, but it unfairly skewers its subject. It does give a great glimpse behind the scenes of an entry-level rock band, and it also documents a real-life example of OCD. For that reason it's definitely worth seeing. I just wish it had been edited differently.
 
Reviewed by Bill Alward  Home
 

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