Between the relatively slow week for music following the Capitol Hill Block Party, the screaming navy death machines doing stunts all weekend, and my own weeklong hangover from Daft Punk, I didn't really get out that much this past week. But I did catch a few rock 'n' roll films recently, and since they're as close as I came to rocking out this weekend, I thought I'd round them up here. (To be fair, I also hung out at a friend's house on Friday and listened to records, but beyond everyone agreeing that "Paper Planes" is, like, the best M.I.A. song ever and that Daydream Nation holds up, not surprisingly, a lot better than Vitalogy—yes, that absurd death match actually happened—there wasn't too much critical action.)


Reaching back a bit, Daft Punk's feature-length film, Electroma, screened at CHAC the Thursday before the duo's July 29 Seattle show, and a handful of people showed up maybe hoping for a fun little prefunk. But Electroma is about as far from ecstatic anthems "One More Time" and "Human After All" as Daft Punk could get. Electroma is a downer, like Brokeback Mountain for robots. Though only 74 minutes long, the movie drags through lots of slow shots of the heroic robotic duo driving a vintage black Ferrari (license plates: "HUMAN"), pans across desolate Southwest American landscapes, and static shots of the robots walking around. There are only three settings—the desert, a small town, and a retro high-tech, blinding-white laboratory—and there are only about three plot points to go with them. Their quest to become human proves to be a tragic one, and the ending, though hinted at throughout the film, comes as a sad shock.


More recently, I was able to screen a copy of You're Gonna Miss Me, a documentary detailing the tragic life of Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators. The film follows Erickson from underground stardom to a bogus drug bust to a mental institution and into a perilous schizophrenic decline marked by a bitter custody battle between his younger brother and his unfortunate mother. The film is an especially artful music documentary and a startling look inside the recent life of the wayward musician and his family. You're Gonna Miss Me screens August 24—30 at Northwest Film Forum, and Roky Erickson performs with the Explosives on Monday, September 3, at Bumbershoot.


On Sunday, August 5, Towncraft, a documentary about the Little Rock, Arkansas, punk scene, rolled through Seattle for a one-night screening at CHAC. The film begins with a compelling enough scenario—Little Rock is a boring shit town, kids discover punk rock, and a wildly fertile DIY scene blooms—but its great initial energy suffers from too many talking heads and a running time that goes on just a little too long. Little Rock notables John Pugh of !!! and Matt Besser of the Upright Citizens Brigade (who knew?) make appearances, as does the always-game-for-a-punk-history-doc Ian Mackaye, and the film features music and old live footage from several Little Rock bands including Trusty, Econochrist, and the awesome, adorable party collective Soophie Nun Squad. It's a sweet film, but it's probably only for the true and tattooed hardcore fans.


Oh, I also saw El Cantante, which is a shiny, clichéd turd. recommended

egrandy@thestranger.com