Frankly, the innaccurate title and description prompted me to write a review of this DVD documentary. There are nuggets worth watching in the video, but the innaccuracy bothered me enough to offer more info in a review.
The following review is also published/available on Amazon.com and Netflix.com.
I agree with the Netflix reviewer who started off with the comparison… “What zines are to magazines, this little film is to a documentary,“ but not necessarily in a completely negative connotation. It takes a certain mindset to find zines appealing, and it takes a similar mindset to really get into this documentary.
There’s almost a shock factor in the early portions briefly explaining zines in general, but mostly focusing on the “zine community” around the Portland area in 2003/2004. Later, SOME of the nuts and bolts of the zine process and some nuggets of insight appear here and there, but for the most part, the documentary IS very specific to this subgenre of zines or the zine community in Portland.
Expect a lot of subculture self-adulation and a lot of shock language. If you can get beyond all that, there’s still some value in the documentary, especially for viewers who know nothing about zines, have never seen one, certainly don’t have access to zine stores, etc.
My biggest complaint is that the title and description are woefully inaccurate. The title actually comes from a quotation in the documentary as a zine publisher describes EXACTLY the opposite of a zine writer…100 dollars and a t-shirt paid by a traditional publication for an article.
There’s very little inclusion of the nuts and bolts components, and as far as “travelling by bicycle” or the symposium…well, those elements are irrelevant and virtually invisible.
If the intention of the documentary was subculture self-adulation plus a little shock (with a little bit of interesting info and interviews included), it’s a success. If the documentary was really supposed to match the title and description…well, viewer, beware. It doesn’t. Take it for what it is. Enjoy the nuggets, and it’s worth watching. If you’re not wide open to it though, give it a miss.