Film and Video (Presently looking for a contributer of film and video news. Thse these three mini-reviews were written by Huncke-Times editor, Jerome Poynton.) mini-reviews: "Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles" Directed by Owsley Brown This not to be missed documentary is an opportunity to hear the music of Paul Bowles accompanied with extraordinary picture stories created by photographers Rudy Burkhardt, Nathanial Dorsky and others. The Burkhardt archival 16 mm footage of nude boys swiming under the Brookly Bridge, shot in the late '40's, is sesastional and would be considered pornographic by Giuliani standards. Dorsky's footage in Paris and Mexico are beautiful edited sequences of colors and shapes--everything scored to Bowle's composition. First time director Owlsey Brown has put together a loving portrait of Bowles, concentrating on his largely forgotten musical compositions. Bowles influence is pervasive in its sparseness. No silly comments or self glorification, Bowles is revealed in asides, commenting on orchestras who play too fast to show how talented they are and his clear perception of his value as a composer coming to market only because of his success as a writer. ("Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles" won the 1999 Sothhampton Film Festival, the prestigious Spirit Award in March 2000 and was exhibited at The Berlin Film Festival, 2000. Distribution is pending.) The Ballad of Rambling Jack Directed by Eyiana Elliot Premiering at 2000 Sundance and receiving critical success this gem of a documentary is a risky portrait of a daughter / father relationship which existed almost entirely in the void between them. The Ballad of Rambling Jack conveys the spirit of the beat generation in a 1950's legend who gleamed his talent from his mentor Woody Guthrie. Rambling Jack, as he was commonly known, never looked back or doused his internal flame, alit by Guthrie. While not adhering to a conventional method of fatherhood, the proof of the pudding is in the energy which fueled the director's archival of her father's career while pursuing him for an interview with questions he has no answers for or answers to introspective and painful to relive. This film becomes the questions Eiyanna Elliot always wanted to ask and the answers her father could only answer with his life. ("The Balland of Ramblin Jack" was awarded a jury award at 2000 Sundance. Its theatrical release is presently being picked up and should be in theaters in 2000.) "The Source" Directed by Chuck Workman Thankfully omitted from this year's Academy Award nomination, "The Source" is a documentary film which premiered at 1999 Sundance and conspires to reinforce beat generation writers in the "celebrity" lexicon, overlooking or ignoring the original spirit of the beat generation, to present a cleaned up, homogenized version of name writers whom the public has heard of. This feel good movie allows practitioners of boredom and literary ignorance to pontificate about a subject they know nothing of or learned nothing new about in viewing this movie. On the coattails of the famous, this film edited out or did not interview writers who have no cache at name-dropping festivals taking place at cocktail and beer parties. Allow me to drop a few of the omitted: Where was Ray Bremser, an ex-con poet? Where was Bonnie Bremser, his wife and author of "Troia" which is her tale of prostituting herself in Mexico to support their drug habits? Where was Irving Rosenthal, author of "Sheeper" and former editor of The Chicago Review who was driven from The University of Chicago for publishing writers deemed unacceptable to academia? Where is Bill Hiene, Charles Olson, Gregory Corso, John Wieners, Roger Richards, Janine Pomy Vega, Elise Cowen, Charlie Parker, Lew Welch, Herman Melville, Ed Marshall, Robert Frank, Robert Creeley and many more . . . ? Where are the drug dealers and pimps? More appropriate titles for this film: "The Souce of Money" or "An Exegesis of Fame"