Do It Again

This weekend, “Do It Again” plays six times at the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square. But if you have a choice, come to the Friday night, 7 p.m. show. Director Rob and I will be there to introduce the movie, conduct a post-screening Q & A and then I’ll be hanging around for what the Brattle is calling a Kinks party. It’s really a two-hour disc of super-hot Kinks clips as curated by St. Louis master collector Jim Napoli. The performances take us from the Cavern Club in the early ’60s to the video for “Do It Again,” one of my MTV-favorites.

I can’t say we’re going to sell out, but you never know. So go here to purchase tickets ahead of time.

Exclusive: Sting, Zooey Deschanel rock new Kinks doc “Do It Again”

BY SEAN O’CONNELL

The Kinks, to me, were a second-tier rock outfit. That’s not a slight against the band. Several of their hits, from “Lola,” “All Day and All of the Night” and “Tired of Waiting for You” to “You Really Got Me,” became part of pop culture’s conscience. They just never attained the same level of popularity and mainstream success as legendary first-tier rockers The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones or The Who.

Geoff Edgers would disagree. The Boston Globe reporter views The Kinks as one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time. And with his 40th birthday fast approaching — the milestone of the mid-life crisis — Edgers sets a personal and professional goal. He’s going to reunite the four original members of the band, including feuding brothers Ray and Dave Davies, who haven’t spoken in years.

Robert Patton-Spruill’s documentary “Do It Again,” which trails Edgers on his impossible quest, screened to a raucous crowd last night at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C. And while official awards won’t be handed out until Sunday, the lively and personable “Do It Again” earns a special achievement award as the best film I’ve seen so far at the fest.

“Again” dives into the volatile history of the British rock outfit, who admit to sabotaging their career every time fame came knocking. Most of the battles are attributed to lead singer and chief songwriter Ray Davies’ pride and ego, which struck sour notes with brother Dave.

But the film, as all good docs do, draws us into Edgers’ personal mission, and we suffer as this journalist deals with salary cuts at his unstable job and wince as Ray (and his publicity associates) plays hard-to-get with Edgers’ dream.

Others play along, however. Edgers’ status as a journalist buys him face time with rockers who happen to be big fans of The Kinks and want to see the brothers reunited. Sting, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, actress/musician Zooey Deschanel, Robyn Hitchcock, Paul Weller, and, eventually, Dave Davies, open up for Patton-Spruill’s cameras, recollecting their favorite Kinks songs and contemplating on the emotional forces that eventually drive bands apart. In an entertaining Q-and-A following the screening, Edgers revealed that $15,000 of his film’s $125,000 went to former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, a member of rock royalty, who eventually blocked his involvement in the project.

“Do It Again” doesn’t suffer from McCartney’s absence. It’s a rollicking trip through music history, and a worthy personal journey too many of us will be able to relate to. And Edgers capped everyone’s evening off with a live performance by The Kinksmen — a famous Kinks cover band — in the famed Carolina Theater. It was an ideal tribute to an energetic evening, and a highlight of the ongoing fest.

This festival process really is a lot like applying to college, except instead of pinpointing 5 or 8 schools, you go out and apply to 20, 25 or 30. And some of ‘em might be in Budapest. And there are no safety schools, only places less competitive than, say, Sundance or Toronto. That means every day can be filled with either rejections or acceptances. The key, psychologically, is to not get overly invested in either.

In that spirit, I share good news. We’ve been invited to show “Do It Again” at the Washington DC International Film Festival. The festival runs April 15-25. We still don’t know our screening date or whether we’ll be brought down to introduce the film. But we’re glad to be filling up the calendar with another respected festival.

When we started applying to film festivals, I was told it was a lot like applying to college. I’m not sure how the analogy holds at this point because, after Rotterdam – presumably our first school – we’re getting all sorts of invites without even applying. Beyond allowing us to avoid the application fee, it also provides positive re-enforcement to have festival programmers dig the film and want to show it in their own houses.

Today’s new announcements: The Taipei Film Festival in Taiwan and the Santiago International Film Festival in Chile.

It’s unlikely we’ll be going to these festivals, unless they offer to pay for air and lodging. (Usually, the hotel is covered but not the flight.) But it means that we’re filling up our year-long festival run with screenings and territory. It’s also cool to say we are huge in Taiwan.

Well, somebody has to go to Bermuda to promote the film. So Rob and I are heading to the Bermuda International Film Festival for a pair of screenings in March. I don’t know all that much about this festival other than that we met a guy from it in Rotterdam, he liked our film and we received a warm invitation this morning. Warm. Get it. That’s a pun!

In all seriousness, Bermuda might not be a fancy film market and we’re more likely to run into Adrian Zmed than Adrien Brody, but the festival is one more place for us to spread word of “Do It Again.” That’s more than enough to get us to Logan in a few weeks.

We’ve been invited to show “Do It Again” at the Buenos Aires Festival Internacional De Cine Independiente, which runs from April 7-18. It is very unlikely we’ll be going, as the festival can pick up our hotel but not airfare. (Expedia query: $1,183 per ticket.)

Dave Plunkert, of Baltimore’s SPUR Design, created this fantastic poster for “Do It Again.” Here’s what Dave had to say about the image.

“By far the most underrated British Invasion band if not the most
underrated Rock act of all time, The Kinks engender a fierce loyalty in their fans that the pop acts of today can only dream about. It’s that loyalty that compelled Geoff Edgers to film his quest to reunite the legendary band.

Directed by Robert Patton-Spruill “Do It Again” has been described as a kind of “Sherman’s March” with guitars and features appearances by Sting, Zooey Deschanel, Clive Davis, Robyn Hitchcock, Paul Weller, Warren Zanes and Peter Buck.

The official 25 x 39 inch poster Spur created for the film was screen-
printed 2 colors (black and a musty coloured yellow) at Globe Poster. The venerable Baltimore poster printer, has a long history printing gig posters for musical legends including Led Zeppelin, Janice Joplin, and Stevie Wonder among others.

For my part I wanted to depict the original line-up from their classic period, include a few Easter eggs for their fans, and put the Davies Brothers at the center of everything.

Its a love letter to the the ink (or is it tea?) that dripped from Ray’s pen and the fuzzy guitar sound Dave created with a razor blade and an 8 watt amp, and for a group that left a musical stamp that’s equal parts genius and madness.”

Okay, kids. So far, we’ve got four festivals on board with “Do It Again.” The world premiere takes place Jan. 28 – next Thursday! – at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Yes, in Europe’s biggest port city. (Kind of how we have to hear about cheese-steaks whenever Philadelphia is mentioned.)

Want to buy tickets. Go here.

I will be in Rotterdam – with additional screenings over the weekend – but not at the Glasgow Film Festival, where “Do It Again” shows on February 21.

After that, we will likely head stateside. The Cleveland International Film Festival will show the movie somewhere between March 18 and 28. Remember, Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Independent Film Festival Boston has also accepted us, which is a personal thrill because I live here and it’s the best festival in the city. That screening is somewhere between April 21-28. (Minor complication: My wife is scheduled to give birth on April 27.)