Mooz-lum (2010)

Date Watched: September 24, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

I originally wanted to see this because Nia Long was front and center on the cover. I love her, and I was a little disappointed that she didn’t appear in the movie more. But when she was on screen, she was amazing, as always.

Now, as far as the rest goes, I’m going to have to try and be very careful what I say. Obviously since September 11, Islam is a hot button issue with a lot of people. Even though this is my blog, I don’t want to be misinterpreted.

Here goes.

Regardless of what religion, race, etc. you are, you say you want to be treated the same as everyone else. Right? Then why does your kid need to go to a school that’s just other kids of his kind? Why is your school better than the school where everyone is the same? Okay, so he got picked on in regular school because he’s Muslim. Well, that other kid got picked on for being black, and the one over there got made fun of because his parents are gay, the one next to him gets picked on because he’s fat. Kids will ALWAYS find something to make fun of. If it’s not religion, it’s body, it’s family, it’s skin, it’s your damned shoes. And, if you think your religion is so much better than ours that you have to take your kid out of regular school to go to a specialized school, then obviously, you don’t want your kid treated like everyone else, and you don’t SEE him as like everyone else. You see him as BETTER than the rest of them. That in itself makes YOU worse than anyone else, because you have an elitist attitude.

That’s about all I can say without sounding like a Nazi. Regardless of how I state something, matters of ethnicity can and will be twisted around to make me look like a racist.

But, um… obviously since I have such big opinions on such big things, I think it’s safe to say that the movie was pretty good.

See it on Netflix

I Think We’re Alone Now (2008)

Date Watched: September 14, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

This film chronicles Jeff Turner, a 50 year old man with Asperger’s Syndrome, and Kelly McCormick, an introsexual man. Both of these people are obsessed with 80s pop star, Tiffany. The beginning of the film kicks off with Jeff stating that they are in love, and then he proceeds to read articles about him stalking her, and showing us the actual restraining order that Tiffany had to have placed against him when she was just 16.

Both of these men have imagined things that have happened between them and Tiffany, such as seven hour phone calls and even whole love affairs. Jeff’s favorite passtime is to tell everyone that Tiffany is his best friend and they have a very close relationship. He even tells this to Kelly McCormick, who travels all the way to Las Vegas to his first actual Tiffany concert with the guarantee from Jeff that he will finally meet his love. He does in fact meet Tiffany, though it has nothing to do with Jeff.

Both of these men are clearly mentally ill. Kelly’s illness isn’t admitted the way Jeff matter-of-factly talks about his Asperger’s. Aside from their Tiffany infatuations, there are other glaring examples of their illnesses. Jeff, for instance, has spent over $20,000 on “devices” that give him telepathy. He uses them to be mentally connected to Tiffany and have mental conversations with her. He is convinced that she speaks to him through these devices. Kelly is obsessed with Bally’s gym, and is delusional about his athletic abilities.

Many reviews on Netflix denounce the makers of this film for exploiting the illnesses of these two individuals. I’m not sure that’s what happened here, though. It appears to me that an unpleasantly factual film was made from the stories of these two people. It doesn’t appear to be mocking them in any way, unless I missed something.

This hits a bit close to home, though. Without divulging too much information, I am a close friend of an actor who has had short stints on TV in addition to his theatre career, and I “worked” for him as a buffer between him and the fans that he made during a specific 5-month TV job. Two women in particular were very similar in a lot of ways to Kelly McCormick and Jeff Turner, and I ended up having to intercept multiple daily emails and do my best to dissuade them from their infatuations with my friend. Maybe not as severe, but definitely just as scary. During a fan event for the show my friend appeared on, I attended as his assistant… my real purpose was to be on the lookout for these two (and one or two others) and to help event staff curtail them to protect my friend. And this was just half a year on a TV show. I can’t even fathom the fear Tiffany felt at the tender age of 16 when she found Jeff Turner on her front lawn.

As much as I feel for Tiffany, I also feel for these men, and I hope that their being on this documentary brought them some desperately needed help.

Queue it on Netflix

The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (2009)

Date Watched: September 10, 2011
Source: Netflix Instant Play

Where the heck do I even BEGIN here?

At first glance, you might think this is a racially charged film, but no, “White” is the family’s last name. They allude to being racists but the documentary focuses more on their infamy in Boone County, West Virginia. Had to get that out there.

Anyway, there was a documentary made in 1991 called “The Dancing Outlaw” featuring Jesco White, and so you may have heard of him. But the rest of the family? Ohhhh boy. This reiterates why hillbillies are so scary. One of Jesco’s brothers, “Poney”, actually moved halfway across the country to get away from the stigma that came with the last name “White” in Boone County, citing that you often can’t get a job in the area because of your last name.

Not that it matters much, since the Whites don’t work. They sell drugs, they drink, they rob, they drink some more. It’s a pretty decent sized family, and only two of them – the “founders” Bertie Mae and D. Ray White – weren’t insane.

Among the White family is Jesco, “The Dancing Outlaw”. His older sister is Mamie White, now known as Mamie Warner, since her husband started the fight that killed her father in 1985. She has a daughter named Mousie who is released from prison during the filming of the documentary. She goes in search of her “cheatin’ ex husband” Charlie, finds him living at his pregnant mistress’s house, he leaves with Mousie, and doesn’t return to live with the mistress, though we are informed that he still sleeps with her on occasion.

Then there’s Susan Rae, known as Kirk. She’s the granddaughter of D. Ray and Bertie Mae, daughter of Bernadine “Bo” White. During the filming, she has a baby and then proceeds to snort a few lines off the bedside table in the hospital. When she’s released, the baby is kept for “additional testing”, and when she goes to pick up the baby, she finds out that she’s in protective custody. She goes to court, but her petition is denied and she has to go to rehab. The night before rehab, she goes out partying with her aunt Mamie and aunt Sue “Bob” (another of Bertie Mae and D. Ray’s daughters). Bob, incidentally, has a 19 year old son Brandon who is sentenced to 50 years during filming for attempted murder when he shot his aunt Mamie’s boyfriend in the face three times at point blank range. Bob also says she was a stripper, and mind you, she has a voice deeper than any of the men in the family. Anyway, Bob, Kirk, and Mamie all go out and get stupid drunk, and then the next day, embark on a family trip, hungover, to take Kirk to rehab.

Altogether, Bertie Mae and D. Ray had 13 children, of which only 5 are still alive. One died as an infant. Among the others, two died at age 19, one of which was murdered by an ex husband. One died at 23 by accidentally shooting himself. Another died at 25. Another died at the age of 14 in a car accident. She was pregnant at the time.

This delightfully frightening and sobering family documentary is directed partially by Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame, and is sprinkled with hillbilly songs by Hank Williams III — accompanied by a mountain dancer on a picnic table behind him, in the style of D. Ray and Jesco’s famous dancing.

This is truly an epically horrible and wonderful documentary. You don’t know whether to love them or hate them. But you know you’re of better stock than them, and you inevitably end the movie feeling a bit better about yourself as a human being.

Queue it on Netflix