This compilation of works by Jeff Krulik—and related videos by other directors—should be fodder for future anthropologists, not only for the videos’ various subject matters but also because Krulik and friends don’t claim detached objectivity. Instead they get their handheld cameras in the thick of the action, empathizing with the wackiness of the people they show and celebrating the passionate energy of committed pop-culture fans. In the best known of the bunch, the cult classic Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986), Krulik and John Heyn interview fans outside a Judas Priest concert. They’re all drinking beer, but many seem zonked on stronger stuff, and their glassy-eyed enthusiasm is expressed in less-than-illuminating lines like “Priest is the best.” The young kids awaiting a book signing in Krulik’s Harry Potter Parking Lot (2000) are far more articulate but just as obsessed: a boy has read one Potter book 13 times and recites the opening from memory. The ambience of Raver Bathroom (2000), by Doug DiPasquale and Douangta Inthavixay, is different from either of these: here the ingestion of “anything that will get you fucked for the rest of the night” encourages a “brotherhood” in which men are relaxed about kissing each other. Among other tapes showing: Girl Power Parking Lot (1998), taped outside the LA premiere of the Spice Girls movie, and Heavy Metal Sidewalk (1998), outside a later Judas Priest concert. 91 min.
