Jason goes to Indiefest--Opening Night

Here we go again, with the festival that started my obsession and which I've been faithful to (if not monogamous) since 2002. Haven't missed a movie in 8 years, don't plan to miss any this year.

I did, however, miss all of their Winter Music Festival this year, except for the closing night party...which happens to be the same as their Film Festival opening night party.

But first, the movie, WAH DO DEM. Max (Sean Bones) is a Brooklyn hipster. He was planning to take a cruise to Jamaica with his girlfriend Willow (Norah Jones, in the first indie film role wear I've noticed a personal hairdresser in the credits). Problem is, she dumps him and he doesn't want to go alone. His buddy agrees to go while they're drinking at night, but during the day he realizes he has a job and that two dudes cruising together is kinda gay. Anyway, he goes on his own and is kinda a hipster dork not at all fitting in there (a juggler assumes he works there since no young guy goes on a cruise alone). But eventually he gets to Jamaica, where he goes to see the "real" part of the island...and is promptly robbed. With just his shorts--no shoes, no money, no ID, and definitely a fish out of water--he gets back to the ship just to watch it pull away. Now he has an epic journey ahead of him to the American embassy in Kingston. He begs a few bucks from some frightened tourist, who also give him a "Jamaica, no worries" t-shirt that he promptly turns inside-out. He walks, takes buses (takes a bus in the wrong direction, takes a bus that breaks down), gets other rides from locals, and sees the really real Jamaica (including a bit of shamanistic psychedelia from Carl Bradshaw, who is probably the most famous Jamaican actor ever and was a producer of the movie).

The title in patois means "What (are) they do(ing)?" but the inference is more "WTF are they doing?" And to answer that question, with humor, music, and cinematography, they're creating a story of a man learning that finding the "real" part of any place is learning to be real yourself.

Plus, the music was cool.

Running Time: 76 minutes

My Total Minutes: 169,000 (wow, even. Now I wish that wasn't just an estimate)