Jesus, man. The thing about a double simultaneous assisted suicide is you both have to commit to the assist. Marty, surviving, is all of us who find ourselves wandering still long after we should, older and with luster lost and sort of just shell-shocked to still be here. Consequences are welcome, even urgently needed, but they, simply, aren't, coming. Uncomfortably close stuff.

I've always loved Potrykus's bleakly existential leanings and the shot on the beach of Marty surrounded by dozens of dug-up sand piles is sublime.

Sob Noisse merch when, tho? You guys are a band but I can't even rep you get serious pls.

Love Mike Mills for casting both Ewan McGregor and Joaquin Phoenix as stand-ins for himself.

Things learned watching the commentary track:
•All the interviews are real and done with non-actor children
•Shot in sequence, including having the arrival scene in LA be the first day the three leads meet
•Lit almost entirely naturally/practically
•No hair and makeup
•A bunch of locations/interiors left as they were/not dressed really at all
•Inspired by the great Alice in the Cities (1974)
•Heavy Joaquin collaboration
•Shot/recorded both sides of all the phone calls

This has always been a special watch for me. These guys are in this unique moment before the internet changes indie music forever, touring around the essentially barren inland northwest, concerned about connecting to their audiences, authenticity, conveying ideas, and making them stick. Portrait of the wandering artists as young men. A beautiful cultural artifact.