NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

imjustabill1975 As a quirky film promoting singers this movie is just fine. That's the only nice thing I can think to say about it. Otherwise it's portrayal of the South is about as accurate as The Beverly Hillbillies or The Dukes of Hazzard. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or scream at the ridiculousness of this flick. Having been born and raised in South Georgia, and having spent years in Florida and other parts of Georgia and the South, I can't help but wonder how long it took to find all these places. The movie goes from the armpit of Louisiana to one tiny town in the armpit of Florida over 600 miles away. Then, it sets off for the darkest speck in the Appalachians, another 800 miles away. All this is done in a beat-up old car, because apparently Southerners don't own anything made in the current millennium (with Jesus hanging out of the trunk). I'm not saying they should have set up a musician on an Atlanta skyscraper, or even in the middle of a college football field (although that's the real church of the South). I just don't think that the movie should position itself as a general look at the South, its music and its religion. Jim himself lives in Athens, GA. This is the land of REM and the University of Georgia. As a recent resident of a town only 30 minutes from Athens, I can assure you that snake-handling religious freaks and Jesus Saves Catfish Truck Stops are just as laughable here as they are in NYC or the UK. And no these are not the people electing our politicians (well, maybe that place in Florida). To say they are the margins of the South is putting it mildly. These places made for some great gritty backdrops to play some music in front of, but that's about it. This all might have been more believable if the stories told didn't sound so obviously scripted. I'm thinking the location scout for this film is the same guy that finds people to interview right after a tornado in the Mid-West. Quite a knack for finding the freaks. I've also lived in Cali and NYC. I find it hilarious that people from these places took this movie so seriously. Try getting out of your bubble. The South is actually a really nice place. You should see it sometime. We've learned to read and write and think for ourselves. We hardly even eat dirt or opossum anymore. Jackasses.

bitemeloser145 I grew up in the Ozarks, a member of a hillbilly clan buried deep in the hills, and this movie met me homesick. It's a wonderful portrayal of Cracker culture--the pain, the joys, the violence, the lyricism, the misery, the beauty of poor white Southern life. It's a way of life that is largely unknown except through gross caricature. This stunning documentary manages to catch a glimpse at it largely without condemnation, pity, or derision. I must admit, however, it does throw in a hefty dash of Southern Gothic.As several commenters have pointed out, this is not a complete view of Southern culture, but merely one sliver. I'm not sure that the movie would make that entirely clear to outsiders. Of course the small town (white Pentecostal) South is not "the South." Nevertheless, it is a strand of Southern culture that deserves artistic scrutiny. This documentary is an excellent effort in that direction.

princebuster82 This is another in a long stream of movie industry attempts to dramatize the south in a "it's so pretty, let's show close ups of trees and swamps and have people pick banjo's" etc etc.This is no more an accurate portrayal of the south then say "Forrest Gump". Scenes like inside the barber shop where the guy and the woman are singing some type of murder ballad are pretty much indicative of the tone of the entire movie. If you notice the scene is obviously scripted (like a lot of the film is) and check out the very real discomfort and embarrassment of the locals sitting there waiting for a haircut."People in the south won't talk to you if you're driving a new Land Rover or something." Then all through the movie you see "every day people" driving by in mostly newer SUV's and sedans, and the filmmakers are the only ones driving a beat-up 1970 Chevy.This whole film is mainly a riff on the idea of the south that most outsiders have, a view that is mainly perpetuated by Hollywood.It's time for the motion picture establishment to make a real southern movie, documentary or not. It's a shame that people who saw this on the BBC believe this to be the way things really are in the southern US. What's even more unsettling is the people in our own country believe it as well.

Texshan This movie clearly was made with an agenda, and that was to depict the South as being a place full of dirt poor, stupid, inbred rednecks with more fleas than sense. Everyone depicted in this film is a slack-jawed yokel. This film is no more representative of the South than Grosse Point Blank is representative of Detroit. The Southern people, while often retaining their traditional values of faith in God and a deep mistrust of the government, have largely evolved into a cosmopolitan, technology-driven population. Why did this film only focus on rural areas? Why did it completely fail to visit Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Atlanta, Miami, Nashville, or dozens of other places? Because the filmmakers wanted to make a point, and they couldn't have made it if they had actually visited places that are spread out across the South today.