Loud, bold, vulgar and fast, "Rock Opera" uses the Austin music scene as the backdrop for a story about drugs and druggies. It's pretty original, pretty funny and pretty cool. Sure, it doesn't really have anything to say, but it's a fun way to spend 90 minutes. 

Local musicians people the film and act out the scenes, albeit sometimes rather badly. But it is Jerry Don Clark who stands out and makes the film work. Filmmaker Bob Ray wisely casts him in the main role, that of Toe, a wily guitarist who wants to score and sell a lot of weed so that he can take his band PigPoke on a road tour. Clark is a natural. He always seems at ease in front of the camera and is never self- conscious. Better yet, he can deliver dialogue like a pro and he has a sense of the comedic and the dramatic. The role he plays calls on him to react of off several different and unique individuals and situations from the action oriented to the absurd. Clark never once fails. He's really good here. 

Along the way, Ray takes many sidesteps to give the film flavor and interest. Chad Holt, a horribly unfunny standup comic and a bit of a goofball, plays a man on probation for "violating a coin operated machine." He tells the story of his criminal act while a visual flashback shows us what he's telling us. It's amusing. Ray also uses a scatological joke in one of the most unusual "shit scenes" on film. Apparently this is a bit of an homage to "Trainspotting," but it's much funnier than anything in that film. So while the story is thin, Ray uses a large canvas to pain the surroundings of the scene to give the film a cohesiveness. The little jaunts into the character's lives are always interesting and amusing. But for me, the piece de resistance, was a 5 minute "dream sequence" where Clark chases a neon chicken in the country while tripping on animal tranquilizers. It's cool and funny and perfectly conveys a drug related hallucination. Ray achieves this effect on no budget. He seems to just film a chicken with his camcorder set on negative, but the effect, within the context of the segment, is simply hilarious and, well, groovy. Ray has no budget. He uses his friends. He uses video equipment and has bad sound. Doesn't matter. The film's good. Ray has taken those he knows and put them in his film. Who else would act for free but a bunch of local musicians who can seize the opportunity to expose themselves locally, possibly to a new audience? Ray seemed to just exploit all the available pieces at his disposal to come up with a cool film that is amusing and rockin'. 

"Rock Opera" may look a little cheesy, but it's as good as any low budget film I've ever seen. Probably even better.

Notes: Bands mentioned or shown include PigPoke, the Fuckemos, Witchbangers and Voltage. 

Personal Note 9/3/99: (from my "Notes from Austin") My friend Tim and I went back to the Alamo Draft House around 8 for the premier of an Austin film called "Rock Opera." It was very crowded and hanging around in the Alamo's hot lobby waiting for showtime with about 200 people was like a being at a really crowded beer party. There was a weird little grubby guy that everyone coming out was hugging and I thought... man this little freak is popular. Turns out he's the main actor in "Rock Opera," Jerry Don Clark, and he is very good! A band called "High Voltage" took the stage when we got seated and proceeded to rock our asses off. They are like the best garage band who loves AC\DC (though they do originals) that you've ever seen. I fucking loved them and want to see them live again soon. Their drummer, Keith is a rock GOD! He drums like a mutherfucking maniac... He even puked during the set he was rocking so fucking hard! It was one of the most wild rock shows I have ever seen. 

I think they even pumped in the smell of marijuana to make the film, which is about Austin guys in rock bands scoring pot, seem more realistic. We had dinner while we watched the film. Tim had a pizza and I had a hamburger, which was really good! As we left to go to the after party at Ruta Maya Coffe House, we saw John the guy I know from watching agliff films, waiting to get into "WADD." At Ruda Maya's, it took a long time for us to get a drink and for Bob Ray to show up. He didn't do a Q&A and instead some squirelly guy in the film got up and did the most horrible stand up act I have ever scene. Tim talked to Bob and asked how much "Rock Opera" cost and he said, "well, I like to say between 4 thousand and 4 million." Ray seems nice but a little full of himself. I guess it is his hour. After a bit a really weird and cool band from the film, the Fuckemos (pronounced "Fuck Emo's") played. They were weird but great. I liked them quite a bit. The lead singer plays trombone and occasionally flips it up in the air trying to catch it. He also slows down his voice using a machine of some sort and his vocals are quite odd. Everytime the band would end a song, seemingly in the middle of his singing, he would say, "Sorry." They ended a lot of songs this way. It was awesome. 

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