Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Robert Partiger, various Stooges
Intro:
If nothing else, you'll be humming Iggy tunes for days after.
You might love Iggy Pop, but not as much as British fan Rob Pargiter, who has been the Wild One’s principal devotee since first seeing Iggy and his band, The Stooges, back in 1979. Pargiter doesn’t have a lot going for him – he’s long term unemployed, eccentric, and somewhat aimless, bar one burning drive: meet Iggy. Madeleine Farley’s documentary, Stooge, tracks Pargiter’s quest over the course of the three years leading up to his 50th birthday as the fan of all fans, having sold his house to underwrite his campaign, follows the Stooges on tour around the world in an attempt to meet his idol.
What price fandom? That’s the key question here, and one asked by the film overall and Pargiter’s best mate, the droll and philosophical Peter, specifically – he has, after all, seen Rob spend his entire life and meager fortune in pursuit of The Stooges. Yet Pargiter’s love of the band gives him such joy and such drive that it’s hard to fault it – especially when he confesses that Iggy’s music helped pull him out of a very dark place. His love of The Stooges is his raison d’etre.
The question remains: what would Rob do if he ever met Iggy? Perhaps ask him to play ping pong, as our hero once idly muses? The film gets really interesting when Rob has a few near misses with Pop, backing away from opportunities to interact with his idol lest he cross over into stalker territory. Then we learn that Rob has been on stage with the Stooges at various shows around the world, and drummer Scott Asheton and saxophonist Steve MacKay note that they remember him dancing at shows – it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine Iggy remembers him too. So why the reticence? Is it that, once his lifelong goal is achieved he might actually have, as he ruefully observes at one point, “…straighten up and fly right”?
Well, that would be telling. Does it give too much away to say that Stooge is ultimately a celebration of fandom rather than a condemnation of obsession? You might not love The Stooges (but you should), but you can love Rob for loving the Stooges – he’s an amiable, softly self-deprecating guy, and it’s easy to get in his corner and root for him to follow his dreams, even if his dreams might not make sense to the outside observer. At the end of the day, Stooge champions empathy and exults in small victories, and that’s rather wonderful.
If nothing else, you’ll be humming Iggy tunes for days after.
I really want to see this.Is it available on dvd yet?
It’s only just hit the festival circuit. DVD will be a while away.