October Sun Films

Corner 1: Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields (Gail O’Hara and Kerthy Fix)Recorded over the course of ten years, this documentary about indie rock darling Stephin Merritt has been winning over audiences and critics. Most of them would say that “indie rock” is not expressive enough to encapsulate Merritt and his primary band The Magnetic Fields (for an example of his influences, the band is named after the 1920 Surrealist novel by Andre Breton and Philippe Soupalt). The Magnetic Fields’ music is usually classified as synthpop, characterized most succinctly on the 1999 3-disc album 69 Love Songs, but Merritt is also influenced by Tin Pan Alley songwriters and traditional American folk music. The documentary follows Merritt during his songwriting and recording experiences and includes interviews with band members, manager Claudia Gonson, author Daniel Handler (whose alter-ego, Lemony Snicket, collaborated with Merritt on a soundtrack to the Series of Unfortunate Events novels), author Neil Gaiman, and more.Corner 2: In My Mind (Gary Hawkins)Thelonious Monk’s Town Hall concert in 1959 is a legendary recording, one that shows what Monk could really do when backed by a large ensemble. In 2009, jazz pianist Jason Moran (who’s been making his own mark on the jazz scene over the last decade) performed his own version of that night for the concert’s 50^th anniversary, and Gary Hawkins was there to capture it. In addition to footage from the event, Hawkins includes images of Monk’s rehearsal and interviews with the people involved. The whole film has the spirit of jazz, in that it’s spontaneous, effervescent, and dedicated to the spirit of the music itself. Hawkins watched no jazz videos before starting the project, although he did watch the 1988 film Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser late in the process. The resulting film is one that can appeal to Monk fanatics and newly-interested parties, and will likely influence a whole new generation of fans.Consensus: That rarest of outcomesa tie. Go out and see them both, and support music and documentary films at the same time.