I put off seeing the movie You're Gonna Miss Me for a while. I think it was partially because I was never a big fan of the 13th Floor Elevators, a lot of stuff from the 60s just depresses me, and it just feels like I've been oversaturated hearing about these kinds of famous rockers gone crazy and recluse stories.
Then for some reason I noticed that Netflix was recommending this movie to me very strongly. I wasn't sure why but it got me a little more excited to see it. But I shouldn't have even got my hopes up. In the end I was terribly disappointed and frankly just bored.
Like I said maybe I would have enjoyed this more if I was a fan of the 13the Floor Elevators. Maybe I just haven't heard enough of their stuff. But it's hard to say. If I did like them, then maybe my personality would be wildly different I would like this movie for other reasons other than just because I already liked the band this person was from. I'm really more of a fan of another band that came out of the Austin area around the same time and is actually still technically together today. They may actually be the longest lasting rock band of all time and their name is The Red Crayola (sometimes also spelled The Red Krayola). I wish they made a doc about Mayo Thompson! Anyways I have actually always liked Psychedelic rock in theory because they inspired a lot of stuff I like from generations later like The Dukes of Stratosphear and bands from Elephant 6.
Anyways I realize this movie isn't really about the Elevators or about music as much as it is just about a family drama. But the music is what apparently made people interested in the family in the first place. Why else would they be interested? I sure wasn't. I've seen enough movies about mental illness and family drama that there should be something more or different here. There isn't, hardly.
Face it, Roky is a boring character. He's not too cognizant, but he's hardly tortured. He's not totally bonkers, he doesn't seem to care about anything. His mom is obviously crazier than him, making these weird videos. And we can see the rest of his family is disturbed as well. His father doesn't want to talk about it. Another brother is suicidal. And another goes to a typical new-age looking shrink. But a patch-eye and a gaudy looking house that has colors more abrasive than the inside of a McDonalds (lived in by a guy who seems like he's trying to bring calmness to his life. WITH THOSE COLORS??!) aren't quirky enough to make this film stand out.
The movie is so uneventful that they have to make up supposed surprises. The brother's dad actually lived next door to him the whole time. So what?
I have a feeling that I would enjoy Wesley Willis: The Daddy of Rock 'n' Roll much better as a movie about a schizophrenic making weird music. Or actually I'm even more interested in Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story for just weird music in general. And from what I can tell a lot of people behind the authorship of those songs poems may have had a lot more mental illness than Roky as well. Maybe I'm just revealing some of my own proclivities in music.
But that is just making me realize. What is so interesting about these mentally disturbed musicians over Roky? Well Roky doesn't have any pathologies, at least not any interesting ones! He collects and documents mail, he needs lots of noise on (presumably to drown out the voices in his head), he thinks he's an alien. This is all standard, boring, schizophrenic stuff. When does Roky ever run outside naked with a swastika on his chest, or piss all over an old woman at church? Or he could at least write a song about it. That's that kind of thing that I think when I think crazy. Ok maybe it doesn't have to be that extreme, but the guy just seems bored with life. Why should I be any more excited?
Rating: 4/10