Dear Gossips,   

There’s a lot going on, it’s been a big week what with Jimmy Kimmel’s return to television—and the ongoing blackout from Disney’s largest ABC station affiliates, Nexstar and Sinclair Media—and it’s not like I’m ignoring that stuff. For instance, I have definitely done shady eyes.gif at the news that Disney shareholders are “demanding documents” related to Kimmel’s suspension, which might lead to shareholder action against the company. It’s just that amongst all this stuff happening, there’s also birds, you know? Birds are cool.

 

Birds, and more specifically birdwatching, are the subject of a documentary called Listers. The doc follows two brothers who hit the road, living hashtag-van life while attempting a “big year” in birding. A big year is an effort to catalog as many birds as possible in a defined area, such as the lower 48 states of the US, within a single calendar year. The brothers, Owen and Quentin Reiser, set out in a used Kia Sedona minivan, armed with the app eBird, to see how many birds they can catalog. Here’s the trailer:

 

 

Listers is already available to watch, as Owen Reiser released it directly to his own Youtube page. And you know what? It’s one of the best movies I’ve seen this year so far. It’s f-cking fantastic, funny and well-researched and interesting and just that little bit strange (the big year competition is described as “part birdwatching, part tax preparation, and fully ridiculous”). The birding community seems niche at first glance, but as the Reiser brothers discover, a lot of people are into birds, whether they’re organized about it or not. And why not be into birds? They’re cool! I especially love owls and corvids!

 

Listers is great and you should definitely watch a couple of bros being dudes being birders. It’s a weird, fun antidote to all the other stuff happening right now, but Listers is also interesting because Owen Reiser put it out via Youtube. (You can watch the full film here.) Once upon a time, this is the kind of film that would break out at Sundance. Now, though, it feels like the traditional pathways are breaking down, the film industry, and independent distribution in particular, hit by successive waves of problems making it harder and harder for singular works like Listers to break through.

Filmmaker Jim Cummings (Thunder Road, The Wolf of Snow Hollow, The Beta Test) speaks openly about the need for filmmakers to find their own pathways, and not worry about fitting into the existing Hollywood machine, saying, “You have to create your own industry and your own audience […] No one will care about your movie as much as you do, you should act that way.”

 

This is what Owen Reiser has done with Listers. He put his absolute gem of a documentary—which is also one of the funniest movies I’ve seen recently—on Youtube and you know what? People are finding it. I found it! Listers hit my algo after I put on some bird videos to distract my cat while I had a Zoom meeting. Sometimes the algorithm gets it right! For once instead of trying to get me to watch some anti-Brie Larson haterade, Youtube said, “Oh you like birds and people indulging their little hobbies? Try THIS.” And Youtube nailed it, because I f-cking love Listers and can’t stop (won’t stop) recommending it to people. This movie has everything: bros, birds, minivans, Cracker Barrel, crocodiles, power wheelchairs, sunburns, an increasingly insane mullet, and some genuinely excellent wildlife photography. Seriously, Listers is great. Give it a shot.

 

Part of me is sad that the distribution mechanisms are failing—again it’s devastating the indie sector the hardest right now, Tuner is one of the best movies I saw at TIFF, and it still doesn’t have a release date, a heist movie with a sexy lead should be a no brainer—but I’m also heartened that talented, interesting filmmakers like Owen Reiser are finding ways to get their films out without waiting for some stuffed shirt to see the value in their quirky bird movie. Now, I have to go, there’s a red-winged blackbird outside my window that demands to be seen.

Live long and gossip,

Sarah

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