The Beaver Trilogy (2000)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Trent Harris

Writer:

Trent Harris (writer)

Genre:

Documentary | Comedy | Drama | Music

Plot:

It begins in 1979 with the chance meeting in a Salt Lake City parking lot where filmmaker Trent Harris...

Plot Keywords:

Beaver Utah | Video Camera | Drag | Song | Sexual Identity Crisis

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Groovin' Gary	...	Himself (segment "The Beaver Kid")
Sean Penn	...	Groovin' Larry (segment "Beaver Kid 2")
Crispin Glover	...	Groovin' Larry (segment "The Orkly Kid")
Stefan Arngrim	...	(segment "The Orkly Kid")
John Bluto	...	(segment "The Orkly Kid")
Ken Butler	...	Terrance (segment "The Orkly Kid")
Lila Waters	...	(segment "The Orkly Kid")
Shane McCabe	...	(segment "The Orkly Kid")
Elizabeth Daily	...	(segment "The Orkly Kid")

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Trivia:

The three short films were originally shot 16 to 21 years before their release: "The Beaver Kid" in 1979, ""Beaver Kid 2" in 1981 and "The Orkly Kid" in 1985.

Movie Connections:

Edited from The Orkly Kid (1985)

Soundtrack:

Please Don't Keep Me Waiting

I like it.

This movie is amazing for several reasons. Harris takes an extremely awkward documentary and turns it into a relevant social commentary. Groovin' Gary is a small-town kid who is (assumed) well-liked for his many impersonations. When he decides to play Olivia Newton John in a local talent show (for whom he is very passionate), Gary's actions show that he is at odds with the conservative social environment in which he lives. This results in him making various justifications for his actions so that people will not think that he is in fact a transvestite or other such social outcast. In the second installment, Harris exploites the struggle between Gary and Beaver in a novice attempt to make a narrative out of the original documentary. The third and final installment to the trilogy is truly amazing for Harris' extreme sensitivity with the subject. Unlike the second installment, "The Orkly Kid" shows Gary as a truly troubled character. He struggles to gain acceptance within his own community to no avail. His secret passion for dressing like Olivia Newton John distances him even further from the people that already consider him a social outcast. The movie is depicted so realistically that, like reality, it lends itself to many reactions. Surely, one can see Gary as a ridiculously pathetic character, but may also identify with him as an outcast.