Ryan McNeil
“My boss outsourced my job but gets to keep his”
Funny thing about complaining – we all do it. Heck, the city I call home that is hosting this film festival seems to partake in it with unheralded gusto. Thus a doc about complaining was probably something begging to be made. However, Finnish artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Koctha-Kalleinen took a fascination with complaints to the next level. They created choirs who sing songs that are a stream of complaints set to music.
“People are so mean on the internet”
The performances of these choirs play like installation art, and this film follows the creation of two such projects: one in Chicago, one in Singapore. The doc has a whimsical nature about it, fueled in large part by the way the narrative takes pause every five minutes to listen to one of the complaints straight from the singer who suggested it.
“I am too smart for the men I date”
What really gives this film some muscle is when it looks at people who are trying to counter society’s tendency to complain. During the second act, we are introduced to an American Christian movement to break the cycle of complaints, and live a life dedicated to searching for solutions. While it only has a grazing connection to the complaints choir and the people who created it, it’s inclusion is key, since it presents another hypothesis for what we as a society can do with the energy we spend complaining.
“Restaurant servers ask are you still working on that?”
THE COMPLAINTS CHOIR is a doc that gets right to the point, and presents a few surprises along the way. It has a lot of charm that prevents it from becoming a 56 minute bitch-fest with a melody. It’s a film and a concept that will stick with its audience, and might well send them looking to start or join a complaints choir of their own
THE COMPLAINTS CHOIR plays tonight – 9:30 pm at Cumberland 2, and again on Thursday May 6th – 4:30pm at Isabel Bader.
Hi Hatter, sorry I'm so behind on visiting my ol' blog buddies. I've never heard of this so thanks for the tip! It does sound fun and whimsical, yet tackle a poignant subject matter that perhaps we do complain a lot despite how good we have it generally (in the grand scheme of things). I'll definitely check this out when it's out on dvd.
Btw, I responded to Lady Hatter's comment on my blog a while ago (http://wp.me/pxXPC-1iJ) as you inspired me to watch this iconic movie 🙂
complaning is a really funny thing – on the one hand hand you never want to 'cause trouble but, on the other, if something is wrong you make the point.
But turning it into song …
Hmmm. Interesting.
Simon
http://www.screeninsight.com
The idea of this one really intrigued me – good to hear it's watchable.
@ RTM… Confession – that was actually me commenting under Lady Hatter's handle by mistake. So sorry! As for this film, it is indeed worth tracking down so keep an eye out for it – like wise check out The Complaints Choir's website and see if they'll be doing any projects near you. They build their choirs out of people who respond to an open call so you could even join them!
@ Simon… Complaining drives me nuts sometimes. Ah hell, that's a complaint! Now look what you made me do…
@ Daniel… Very much so, and like I said to RTM, check yer local listings to see if the choir themselves are doing any activities near you.