Unlike most Church of the SubGenius content out there, this feels more honest and behind the scenes. Some good interviews of people out of character talking about success, failure and confusion.
The film does an excellent job of covering a sub-section of people in the 80s, 90s and beyond. It talks about the world of eccentrics who don't fit in, finding each other in a pre-Internet world. Music, video, performance art and alienation.
The movie shifts quite a bit post 1998, and it's easy to consider this an inferior section. However, the Church itself went into a sort of hibernation mode/existential crisis at that point and continues to do so. Yet it's still here. The film does a good job covering why, with real world events that forced the organization to reassess it's place in the world.
I would have liked to see a few more things mentioned. Like anything about the Arise! video. Or how the Church's clipart collage messaging likely helped shape Internet memes. But overall I think it's worth watching to see a little behind the scenes of something that impacted (and still does) the lives of some very interesting and often talented people.
The film does an excellent job of covering a sub-section of people in the 80s, 90s and beyond. It talks about the world of eccentrics who don't fit in, finding each other in a pre-Internet world. Music, video, performance art and alienation.
The movie shifts quite a bit post 1998, and it's easy to consider this an inferior section. However, the Church itself went into a sort of hibernation mode/existential crisis at that point and continues to do so. Yet it's still here. The film does a good job covering why, with real world events that forced the organization to reassess it's place in the world.
I would have liked to see a few more things mentioned. Like anything about the Arise! video. Or how the Church's clipart collage messaging likely helped shape Internet memes. But overall I think it's worth watching to see a little behind the scenes of something that impacted (and still does) the lives of some very interesting and often talented people.