I cannot really say one way or to other on this movie, it is fine. "You're Gonna Miss Me" is right in the middle of anything I could say about a movie in so many ways that it is almost hard to write about. That being said, I have to review this one, and there is plenty to be said about it.
"You're Gonna Miss Me" is not really a new genre, there are only an infinite many movies about whacked out rock stars, this is just a somewhat more recent one that is more serious than "This is Spinal Tap". It is a fine genre, and this movie in particular does the genre credit in that, it actually has an almost hopeful message or ultimate outcome. Even though "You're Gonna Miss Me" is as good a version of this division of documentary as most, "Dogtown and Z-Boys" does things this movie does not that set it apart and make for a better film in its case. "Dogtown and Z-Boys" comes full circle, from a somewhat comprehendible start through the story of whacked out skaters and back to a clear resolve. This is something that is important for movies in general, and a good documentary tries to at least come full circle; at the end of "An Inconvenient Truth", the audience gets an amount of closure on what we can do to un-whack the world. "You're Gonna Miss Me" leaves the audience at the very peek of such an arch waiting for real defiant closure.
There is really more to the movie than its seat in the pantheon of documentaries. "You're Gonna Miss Me" works as a portrait of many things. First, as a portrait of Roky Erickson, the movie does really very well. I did not really know anything about him until this movie, and this movie brilliantly introduces him and shows the audience Roky's life up until where the documentary starts and then through the recent past to Roky's recovery today. His story is really one that could not be brought out any other way than film, reading the summary on the back of the box, one gets an idea, but for this subject, film is the only way to show as much as this movie takes upon itself to show. Frankly, "You're Gonna Miss Me" is a very well done portrait of Roky Erickson and his life and it is an interesting watch.
Another figure captured in this movie is a certain part or lifestyle in America that is also hard to capture in any other media than documentary film. So much of Roky's life, and the lives of those around him, is so polarized from what most find tangible. "You're Gonna Miss Me" brings a huge spectrum to the screen, from absolute disgusting degradation, to the lives of those trying to find solace away from it and the extremity to which that goes. There really is nothing like it, particularly not in other media.
Although "You're Gonna Miss Me" has these remarkable attributes, it has some key things missing that only make it so much more neutral. This is most connected to the unfinished arch mentioned earlier but is really only a problem because "You're Gonna Miss Me" brings in this wide spectrum on the the screen. This problem is drama. "You're Gonna Miss Me" is just raw drama. There is so much sorrow and so much depravity to the people in this movie that it would seem hard not to have the drama, but that is just the problem, all that there is is this hardship. Again, the story needs to come full circle, "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star" frankly does allot of the same things and comes full circle and is total schlock. It can be done with a depressing subject too; "Sophie Scholl- The Final Days" kills the main characters but there is closure in that from the arch of the movie.
In the end, "You're Gonna Miss Me" is so neutral of a film that it is almost hard to say that for it (or against it as the case may be). Now, when I look for closure for this review I almost cannot find it. This is a fine movie and that is all that I can really say to wrap this one up.
Directed by: Keven McAlester
Palm Pictures
Not Rated
97 minutes.