BB (2000) dir. Cameron Jamie

B B (2000) was filmed after a long investigation of the backyard wrestling phenomenon in southern California. For two years Jamie followed groups of kids in the San Fernando Valley, shooting videos, going to their wrestling shows, and integrating himself into this community. The film itself was shot with two Super8 cameras and is superimposed with the timeless, demented, slow, and forceful music of the Melvins. The combination of the slowmotion, blackandwhite images with this music creates a dreamlike state that reinforces a nightmare quality. The challenge of such a project was to avoid an exploitative relationship to its topic. Jamie is not interested in authoring arty whitetrash chic, or in depicting violence in a traditional documentary way. The dreamlike form of the film takes the documentary format to another level, to what he calls a purgatory state of being, a middle ground that, in his view, is perfectly embodied in the notion of suburbs.