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Upstream Color: Shane Carruth’s debut film, Primer, won the Grand Jury Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. While the film did not make much money upon theatrical release, the brain teaser of a film did become a minor cult hit on DVD. His second feature, Upstream Color, is apparently even more baffling as while Primer’s plot was complex, Upstream Color relies less on plot and is more thematic.

VOD Pick of the Week

Hands on a Hard Body

“When you go insane, you lose.” Those are the words of wisdom from Benny Perkins, one of the contestants in the 1995 Hands on a Hard Body competition in Longview, Texas, and he is someone to listen to considering he was the winner of the 1992 edition. The competition is simple. Entrants are chosen by lottery to stand with at least one hand on a brand new pickup truck. The last one standing with their hand on the truck wins it. Sounds simple enough until you realize that the contest is expected to last 70, 80, or even 100 hours with only a five-minute break every hour and a 15-minute break every six hours.

Hands on a Hard Body, the documentary film chronicling the 1995 contest, was originally released in 1997, but it has been out of print on video for over ten years, which has made it almost impossible to find unless you were willing to spend big bucks for a used copy on eBay. Now with the opening of the Broadway Musical adaptation, the film is getting a new DVD and VOD release.

The competition begins with 23 contestants, many of whom are profiled through interviews. The star is most definitely Benny, who acts the part of the Texas philosopher, but the cast is full of colorful characters, and the filmmakers do a great job of allowing you to identify with them so you become invested in their struggles, which begin with sore feet and backs and eventually include the effects of sleep deprivation. Many of the contestants are also in the midst of financial hardships that the prize could help alleviate, which helps put the film into a larger context that seems particularly relevant considering the current economic environment. But mainly the film is just supremely entertaining.

Hands on a Hard Body stands as something of a precursor to competition documentaries and reality shows that followed. The first season of Survivor included an immunity challenge that they called Hand on a Hard Idol and Spellbound received an Oscar nomination by using a similar structure with the National Spelling Bee. Hands on a Hard Body is a film that I’ve often wanted to recommend, but couldn’t because there was no way to easily see it. Now with its new release, it is not to be missed.
Available at handsonahardbodythemovie.com

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