Points of Interest, 2011.
Directed by Anthony Lopez and Jon Salimes.
SYNOPSIS:
In the summer of 2010, a group of filmmakers accompanied the bands Juniper Tar and Strand of Oaks on a 10-day tour of the American East Coast. This film is the result of what happened; as best they remember it.
How do I begin to review a film I don’t really understand? Points of Interest is a sparse, baffling production that will strike some as profound and others as pointless. Mostly devoid of dialogue, it lurches from footage of roads to shots of trees. The random cinematography is interspersed with music; in bars, round campfires and on street corners.
I watched Points of Interest completely blind and ignorant of its origins. I sought out the two trailers provided on the DVD but neither sheds any kind of genuinely illuminating light on subject matter or purpose. Both trailers simply atmospherically follow a van cutting through a grand American landscape. The opening ten minutes or so also features nothing more than some driving and a song.
Eventually it becomes obvious Points of Interest is about a band or a group of musicians touring the USA. A little structure is provided every now and again by some text on screen, telling us if we’re in New York or Philadelphia. However mostly we experience a collection of seemingly unconnected scenes, usually lacking in unifying meaning. Some guys jump into a pool, camp in a forest or briefly sum up their atrocious hotel room. Strangers occasionally pop up to sing, blabber about music or gossip about goings on in their area.
It’s through one of these strangers that we encounter what might be the philosophy behind the film. About fifteen minutes in we’re treated to our first proper chunk of dialogue as a cafe owner is interviewed. He rambles about the weather in his part of the world, how his business got its name from his sister, how the customers come from all walks of life and how he admires a local festival. But then he makes a big show of saying that it’s “the little things in life” he finds really interesting.
Points of Interest seems to adhere to this guy’s outlook on life. Its title is a giveaway to its intentions, or distinct lack of them. Here we have the results of a bunch of blokes travelling around and recording what interests them. In that way this is incredibly organic filmmaking, uninhibited by a plan or robust agenda. And it’s also impressive because some of the shots are beautifully captured.
There are times when you agree with the cafe owner. Watching these musicians laze around in a seemingly undiscovered Eden, populated by lazy insects and calm but furious water is a strange, fly on the wall experience, during which you do not notice the fly, and neither do they. Some shots of the concerts offer new perspectives on music, observing just the moving feet of the band for example or a guitarist’s face lit merely by floating embers.
However as a whole Points of Interest feels like a montage of photos set to music. Due to its severe lack of dialogue and interaction with characters it becomes a tiresome experience, no matter how skilful or aesthetically pleasing the camerawork is. It asks some interesting questions about just how minimal films can be but in the final analysis is too random and bare to ask them persuasively. All it’s really good for is as a project to adorn the CV of budding cinematographers. It takes something more than this to make a film, even an arty documentary. And I’m sure directors have made more compelling movies about “the little things in life”.
Digging on the internet after watching, directed by business cards attached to my screener, I discovered that Points of Interest is the first feature from High Frequency Media. The point was to showcase two bands, Juniper Tar and Strand of Oaks. The music in the film is by no means bad. But bizarrely it seemed secondary to the shots of unspecified places the bands pass through. Only two scenes, one around the campfire and another in which the audience sing-along, really pumped my musical juices. Otherwise I was unmoved, probably even, no definitely, irritated by the succession of songs. We learn next to nothing about the band members, their music or personal journeys because of the focus on a trip through the images of the filmmakers. Even if we sometimes feel as though we’re walking beside them, we’re blatantly not interested, preferring instead to look around at the minutiae of the world.
Points of Interest premieres at the Milwaukee Film Festival on the 30th of September.
Liam Trim (follow me on Twitter)
Movie Review Archive
Originally published September 8, 2011. Updated April 10, 2018.
