In JINGLE BELL ROCKS!, director Mitchell Kezin delves into the minds of some of the world’s most legendary Christmas music fanatics and hits the road to hang with his holiday heroes – including hip hop legend Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons of RUN-D.M.C., The Flaming Lips’ frontman Wayne Coyne, filmmaker John Waters, bebopper Bob Dorough, L.A. DJ and musicologist Dr. Demento, and Calypso legend The Mighty Sparrow. In his search for the twelve best, underappreciated Christmas songs ever recorded, Kezin both asks and answers the question, “Why, when Christmas rolls around, are we still stuck cozying up with Bing Crosby under a blanket of snow?”
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Reviews
Why so much hype?
To me, this movie is perfection.
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Having a complicated relationship with Christmas myself, I found this film a lovely emotional journey. Seeing how so many different people respond to the holiday and deal with it in their own deeply personal and quirky ways ... people who love music finding a way to relate to Christmas on their own terms. The music was great, but the way the personal stories were entwined makes it a lot more than a music documentary. You could feel sadness from many of the people in the film, because Christmas can be just as much about what you don't have, what you've lost, what should be there and somehow isn't. It's inspiring to see feel that in others and see the hope and how they all manage to make their Christmas something beautiful.
There are times when it seems like this documentary about offbeat Christmas music is going to take off. A visit to Run of Run-DMC for an interview about his own hiphop Christmas song is excellent. An interview with a singer who wrote a Christmas song for Miles Davis is fun. John Waters is interviewed, and he's always entertaining.But ultimately the film is a little disappointing because there isn't quite enough Christmas music that's weird enough. If you listen to alternative radio at Christmas, you've probably heard weirder stuff than this. Though I did like the song about Santa arriving on a nuclear missile.
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