REVIEW: CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' (2001)
I promised a review of this in my last post,
2024-07-20.2Pulling_Documentary_Dreams_from_DVD.txt, indeed I
intended to write one. But I never got to it. Now I'm tired out
from too many projects (most incomplete/unsuccesful), and only have
half an hour, which seems to be my common state lately (hence the
pause in new posts), but I might as well cross this off my mental
to-do list.
Even with the English narration, this German documentary series
presents a distinctly foreign viewpoint on California, USA. There's
a common theme of following the cultural and physical exports from
this distinctive American state back to their origins. This becomes
a reflection on the changes since its drug-fueled cultural boom in
the sixties, contrasting with the tech industry transforming places
into a millionaire's playground. In between, with a sly remark from
the deep-voiced narrator, it delights in spinning off onto a
completely different topic: the habits of the local sea otters, a
woman who telepathically communicates with people's pets, an old
mining ghost town, or a man who rides his BMX bike on the roof of
his house.
It's a nice style that's open to examining deep social issues
without needing to funnel itself down a specific narrative. It's
most consistent theme is definately reflecting on the sixties,
reinforced by a soundtrack built from that decade's greatest
west-coast hits, and often pairing up with the surviving artists
behind such music to hear their perspectives in some interesting
interviews.
As someone also aware of California mainly through the products of
culture, entertainment, and technology that it's exported
worldwide, this five-part series was facinating to me. The time of
its filming is also great, with California in the middle of
transfroming world society again, this time through the
business-driven potential of the internet rather than the
commercially ambivalent hippy, surfer, and biker cultures of the
sixties. But filmed before the larger transformative effects of the
internet had really taken root, as well as seemingly prior to the
cultural impact of the 9/11 attacks on the other side of the
country.
I definately recommend the series, and I'm definately over my
allocated time to write about it now too!
https://archive.org/details/2001-california-dreamin-dvd
- The Free Thinker
