Dig!

Ten years ago, the members of rock bands The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jones Town Massacre became friends. But when the Dandies, now known for hit songs like “Junky” and “Bohemian like you,” make a breakthrough, animosity rears its head. This animosity is incited by Massacre front man Anton Newcombe, described as a “brilliant monster creator,” and it grows alarmingly. It is about brilliance, madness, quarrels, friendship, drug abuse and the pressure to score hits. Whereas the Dandies manage to turn their music into cars, jobs and houses. The Massacre make their mark as unmanageable musicians who systematically have arguments on stage. Director Ondi Timoner alternates footage of snorting and drinking binges and gigs that end in massive brawls with on-the-road interviews with the band members. The voiceover is that of Dandies lead singer Courtney Taylor, but the key figure in the story is prophet-cum-junky Anton, who is wrestling with his role in life, while the hard-working Dandies achieve successes through discipline and perseverance. Nevertheless, one of the Dandies realises that in the future The Massacre records may well become collector’s items, whereas the Dandies will long have sunk into oblivion by then. Earlier this year, DIG! won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Festival.