Kansas City Premiere - Sunday, August 1, 2010 - 5PM - Fringe Fest, Screenland Crown Center.
I might be wrong to start thinking about John Acquadro's new feature comedy, "Most of My Memoirs Are Plagiarized" by looking up the definition of sociopath. Clad in bold primary patterns and a signature yellow raincoat, David "Ashley" Planner (Dan Keezer) is a sociopath whose Shakespearean plots-within-plots crease the film's course. But a deeper understanding of his mental state doesn't boost the pure fun of this picture. Because the pleasure in MoMMAP isn't unfolding psychodrama, it is the fast-talking humor of pivot-logic. And the puzzle isn't the human mind. It is an actual giant jigsaw-puzzle. Once solved it becomes the admission ticket into a multi-phase treasure map adventure trap. You may have already noticed. This isn't The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
"We're going to make your home the world again!" - Ashley
For me it is difficult to separate the fiction of MoMMAP from the reality of its making, which is remarkable since the film is such a work of surreal optimism. When John called to say that he and his group (Demalgamation, New York / New Jersey) would be shooting primarily in Kansas City and would we and my brother (Dominic Burkart, 13) go out for a role, Julia and I weren't surprised. Maybe these are the plagiarized memoirs making it hard to distinguish a summer in Kansas City from the scenario written by our good friend John.
I have always thought that once behind the camera John stops being a filmmaker and becomes a diary filmer in the tradition of Jonas Mekas and Stan Brakhage. He divorces himself from all the plans and preparations required to coordinate a project of scale, at times to the frustration of his collaborators. But he becomes astutely sensitive to the actual human moment, to the absurdity, to the beauty, to the typography of the world in time around him. He doesn't always point the camera where he is supposed to, but some of the most unlikely moments make it through to the final cut.
MoMMAP is worth it just as an index of the strangest locations in Kansas City that cut well against Brooklyn and Omaha. It's worth it as the document of a group's ethic at a time. It's worth it only for the authentic positivity and frank wardrobe of Emily Monen as Immaculada. Close your eyes and just listen to the acoustic intervention by Teal Gardner of UUVVWWZ and the MIDI melodies of Goodbye the Band. Come out for the fantastical view of American middlebrow culture today. Stay for the burger-soda.
"Most of My Memoirs Are Plagiarized" (2010)
Dan Keezer ● Emily Monen ● Wilson Vance ● Maria Calderon ● Chris Wilson ● Jamie Burkart ● Julia Fredenburg ● Carrie Thompson ● Teal Gardner ● Arone Dyer ● Goodbye the Band ● Buke and Gass ● Joe Knapp ● Spencer Owen ● James Monen ● Lauren Pascale ● Sue Hendon ● Dominic Burkart ● Shayna Stevens ● Danica Wilson ● Jennifer Gunn ● Shan Raoufi ● Jeff Koster ● Alexandra Ackerman ● Weston Ulfig ● Ramona Fagbore ● Gladys Morris ● Nancy Monen ● Morgan Klein ● Shawn Stevens ● Jacob Stevens ● Fergus Baumann ● Alaina Hickman ● Dylan Strimple ● Chris Stoll ● Patrick Kinney ● Amy Ramsey ● Paul Baumann ● William Monen ● Dr. Michael Davidian ● George Hendon ● et al.
Managed by Emily Monen.
Written and Directed by John Acquadro
