Shot in the spirit of Erroll Morris' The Gates Of Heaven and other Documentaries of its kind which cast a wry eye on their principal subjects, No Early Birds (shot on kinda cheap camcorder video) has definite moments, especially for those who can see through the narcissism of one of its main "players", a self-righteous and self-serving "Mr. Natural" sort. The producers of NEB do seem a bit beguiled by this guy, who, for all his faults, does have some useful tips and pointers for potential garage salers (though using a bike to shop at garage sales is a not a good idea if you take your shopping in any way seriously). The other main "character", a shop owner who frequents garage sales to stock her secondhand store, is actually quite a fun and sharp-witted person, and provides some welcome comic relief.
NEB is formatted much like a standard TV news documentary program (48 Hours et al) into segments, a few of them fascinating; a piece dealing with pack rats stands out as one of the high points of the movie, and features an interview with a psychologist on the subject.
Annoyingly, the film bogs down into the local-news filler story level at times, complete with the hokey, cornpone soundtrack music so often associated with all things "local-color". Unfortunately, it also goes down a couple of dead ends (a very long piece about garage sale signage and Austin City workers, for example).
Despite its flaws, NEB is a pretty interesting rarity which may be of special interest to residents of Austin, Texas, where it was shot.
NEB is formatted much like a standard TV news documentary program (48 Hours et al) into segments, a few of them fascinating; a piece dealing with pack rats stands out as one of the high points of the movie, and features an interview with a psychologist on the subject.
Annoyingly, the film bogs down into the local-news filler story level at times, complete with the hokey, cornpone soundtrack music so often associated with all things "local-color". Unfortunately, it also goes down a couple of dead ends (a very long piece about garage sale signage and Austin City workers, for example).
Despite its flaws, NEB is a pretty interesting rarity which may be of special interest to residents of Austin, Texas, where it was shot.