How many of us out there dread our jobs, but lack the balls to say "that's it, adios!" and quit the corporate rat race? Hunter Weeks and Josh Caldwell did just that to follow their dream, and the little piece of animation in the prologue, was pitch perfect in my opinion.
And I thought if you were to abandon ship and decide to do something radical, to make sure that it's time worthwhile. So what did the duo do? They did a road trip, not any road trip mind you, but one on a Segway with a top speed of 10mph, across USA from Seattle to Boston, in 100 days. It's a crazy idea, but some times are meant to be wacky, and done once in your life so that when you look back at it, you can automatically reflect on the good (or bad) times that the unique experience had given you.
This documentary was a direct result of the trip - where Josh would be the one riding the Segway from beginning to end, while Hunter would be filming the experience. Help came too in the form of Alon Waisman the intern, and Week's sister Gannon who assisted in the logistics. And with all road trip movies, the gem here is really the interaction with a cross section of American society, where the team had to really rely on people's charity in order for their shoestring budget to last. This form of interaction captured on film, is an eye opener indeed, but something I suppose any road trip movie ought to be able to capture. And strange karma enabled these budding documentarians to meet up and participate in a Michael Moore convention too.
As with any project, there are the usual bickerings and problems encountered, though I felt that they had restrained themselves in telling more, in order to maintain the privacy and probably goodwill with one of the stakeholders who backed out. However, they had more than enough goodwill generated from their exploits during the journey, and you can tell from the response that people were thrilled that there are still some crazy youngsters out there actively pursuing their dreams no matter how crazy they sound like, and looks of admiration towards the team too, for getting out there, out of their comfort zones. It's a steady effort for a first film, providing some insights into little seen parts of America.
I mentioned that I had watched this documentary for free, and you can too! You can refer to my earlier posting on how to do just that, and best of all, each time you register for an account to download the movie, US$1 (I know it's not a lot, but still) goes towards the filmmakers, who are in the midst of finishing up their new movie, also a documentary, which takes a look at the fantasy football culture. Should be interesting!
No comments:
Post a Comment