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Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2005)
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Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:23
Rotten:11
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: This atmospheric tour of the Deep South is both quirky and lovely.
Theatrical Release:Jul 13, 2005 Limited
Synopsis: In this magnificent cinematic film, the acclaimed Alternative Country artist Jim White takes us on an entrancing journey into the heart of the culture of the southern USA, a culture too poor and... In this magnificent cinematic film, the acclaimed Alternative Country artist Jim White takes us on an entrancing journey into the heart of the culture of the southern USA, a culture too poor and marginalized to register as important yet extraordinarily rich in creative spirit. In the classic road movie genre, Jim in his battered old car - complete with a concrete Jesus statue bought from a wrecker's junkyard - probes the 'Ulan Bator' of America, as he calls it, from the backwater swamps to the backwood mountains, searching for the wellspring of the culture of the South, bringing viewers along for the ride. This journey is a chain of Southern Stories, each told in various forms and filmed on location. Featuring live performances by White and other stars of the new Alternative Country scene, including The Handsome Family, Johnny Dowd, David Johansen, 16 Horsepower, and mesmerizing Southern preachers as well as funny, gritty, profound stories from celebrated Southern writer Harry Crews. Jim White's own story threads through the film, tracing his search for the meaning of faith in the modern world in the haunting atmosphere of the South: still a remarkably fertile territory for an artist. Or as Jim White puts it, he’s "looking for the gold tooth in God's crooked smile". -- © Films Transit International [More]
Starring: Jim White, Harry Crews, David Johansen, Johnny Dowd
Starring: Jim White, Harry Crews, David Johansen, Johnny Dowd, 16 Horsepower, Lee Sexton
Director: Andrew Douglas
Director: Andrew Douglas
Studio: Films Transit International
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Reviews for Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus
To say the film lingers in the mind like a nightmare is not to say it is unpleasant.
It's a slow, ponderous film -- too slow and too ponderous, maybe -- but an intriguing one, often funny, sometimes unnerving, and altogether hard to forget.
Calling this a documentary is a bit of a misnomer, as Douglas splices staged music numbers into his travelogue footage to paint his surreal homage to the Deep South
The stories, usually told by white men, grow banal, and the richness of White's world increasingly seems limited in scope . . . seems racially myopic.
White says you can’t really understand the South if its not in your blood, and he’s probably right. But the film does an admirable job trying to give us a transfusion.
According to this, there are only 3 types of people in the South: the sinners on the road to hell, the religious fanatics praying for them, and the people who sing about both.
The soundtrack, which includes Lee Sexton, The Handsome Family and others, is full of haunting Southern sounds; the camera work is inventive; and the interviews give you an off-center sense of place that equals at least one aspect of the South.
Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus is one of those movie-long non sequiturs where, though one thought does not logically follow another, we know what is meant.
Andrew Douglas' meandering documentary Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus contains fantastic images--pictures that haven't been captured so intimately before.
The atmosphere conveyed is possibly too vivid. By the time the movie is over, you'll probably feel the need to take a shower just to scrub off the lingering, psychic grime.
The soundtrack [provides] the brooding Southern atmosphere that sometimes eludes Douglas on this beautifully shot but strangely distant road trip.
This is the only film I have seen that captures a true essence of the South's unique if odd beauty.
Succeeds in being both awestruck and affectionate, rather than mocking in tone.
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