OPEN DOOM CRESCENDO: The 3-Hour DIY Epic I'm Thankful For + DIY Wine!
Truly independent things aren't for everybody, but they remind me why I love humans.
On this Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S., I’m thankful that this 175 minute microbudget feature exists. That it was painstakingly shot with a wild cast and crew of Canadian miscreants under the singular vision of director / writer / co-star Terry Chiu.
The film is heavily inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion and anime more broadly, channeling the medium’s pseudo-intellectual existential angst + manic pixie dream girl energy in alternating moments, and sometimes mashing them together into the same. It’s off-putting to see it done in as live action and with zero budget, the effects nothing but purposefully cheap Styrofoam and syrup mixed with breakneck speed editing.
These folks were so young when they made this (everyone seems young to me these days, but these kids seem REALLY young!) Probably college age or just after. As such, the film is half-satire of said pseudo-intellectual existentialism, but also half thinking it’s authentically profound, constantly sneaking in sincere manifestos of human existence as one does. The young also think they’re hysterically funny, but here’s the joy: sometimes they’re right! Sometimes this movie surprises with its deft, multi-layered sense of humor, usually occurring as a visual gag + verbal + textual + calling back something all in the same instant. Because they do this for 3 solid hours, it doesn’t always hit home. But when it does, it’s a bit unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.
OPEN DOOM CRESCENDO doesn’t have a plot, but it has a premise: fighters duke it out in a strange barren landscape in search for the “embodiment of angst”, who it turns out is actually a “who”, an actual body. The players are someone else “in real life” (a good mirror to our online / IRL divide?) but here, they’re working through their issues in the only way they know how: aggression.
The whole movie is subtitled in Chinese and English like an old-skool anime or HK martial arts flick. One of the characters speaks in hilariously broken English that somehow never gets tired, and the subtitles don’t always match what’s being said. (I’m telling you: LAYERS!)
The film is arguably too much to take in one sitting. It took me 3, and even then I felt overwhelmed by the end of each hour. There is a much more focused, coherent, and easier 70-80 minute movie in this epic uncut gem, but where’s the ground-breaking cinema in that? At 175 minutes, this is an endurance test, and a film any audience member will need to watch multiple times - likely in smaller, bite-sized sittings - to truly grasp everything it’s throwing at the screen.
OPEN DOOM premiered at TIFF, 5 days after the director buried his father. Forcing a reflection on the loss and achievements that come for us all, never in an order we’d choose or at times we’re prepared for them. By the time the film premiered in Toronto, ALL of Terry Chiu’s collaborators on the movie had drifted from his life and from the project.
In the director’s own words, and I’m going to let him have the final say here:
“...no one told everyone to fuck off...I’ve felt sad-mad-ness that with just about everyone gone who actually made the film cool, I am the sole creative spokesperson now collecting credit of the quantity I do not sit well with.
“...it ends and I know it won’t happen again. I can’t just produce another 3-hour DIY epic, sacrifice all my life savings, bonds, and future, all in the name of another set of beautiful memories. They’re beautiful because by any and all sheer implausibility, they still happened, and they were DIY’d by every alternative weirdo superhero/hero who made this a reality - regardless how long it lasted.
“Cause it all happened at all, and it will last forever - even if I’m not the one to continue. I’m so grateful. Thank you.”
Bless you Terry Chiu, you fucking madman. Bless all those who helped you, even if they eventually fucked off. And bless this movie for existing.
If you care to, the film is available on Blu ray through Golden Ninja Video. It’s one for the books, folks, and your cinephile shelves.
Pair it With DIY Wine!
Okay, don’t actually make it YOURSELF, that’s probably a terrible idea, and would take way too long anyway. (Though if you want to start now and plan for a special future watch party, knock yourselves out - this time next thanksgiving, maybe? Please don’t invite me.)
But just as this movie wasn’t made by you, but you can enjoy it as aDIY experience, go find a DIY wine from a professional - there are a number of winemakers out there, usually they work full time for a larger, more established winery, then they’re given the ability to buy a couple barrels worth of grapes, and try their hand at making their own wine on the side.
In most cases, they’ll use the professional facilities of the larger winery, but a few barrels in the corner will be theirs. Usually 2-3 barrels of any given wine, and over time they make expand to a half dozen wines or so, and release under their own label.
My recommenation: go to a local small wine shop, if possible. DIY wines are never made in large enough quantities to be found in larger stores. Once, there, ask the retailer what the closest wines to DIY might be, and they’re likekly to have some options. Then figure out which will work beest with your palate.
OPEN DOOM is a wild ride, it’s sometimes slow, sometimes whiplash fast, but always with a kinetic youthful energy, so I’d aim for a wine with “energy”, with acid and fresh vs. jammy fruit, something lighter and brighter and electric.
For me, I chose the Kleinlerer Pinot Noir from Starscape Vineyard in Sonoma County.
Sagie Kleinlerer has worked in wineries all through Napa / Sonoma, earned his wine geek cred by passing all 4 Levels of the WSET and becoming a Certified Sommelier, and in recent years he finally took the plunge and started making his own wines in very small lot (2-3 barrels) amounts.
His Pinot is partial whole cluster, neutral oak (you can’t use any New Oak when making such small amounts, because then a whole barrel would have to be New, and that’s too much oak! That’s something Sagie taught me when we met earlier this year.) It’s a lighter and fresher style of Pinot, there’s fruit but not a hint of jamminess. I’d also recommend his Skin Contact Chenin Blanc if you can find it! Here in Los Angeles, Curated Wine Shop carries his Pinot and Red Blend.
Who’s your go-to DIY winemaker?
Let me know in the comments!