Better than Something: Jay Reatard

2012 • 89 minutes

About this movie

Better Than Something is an exciting and intimate portrait of Memphis-based punk musician Jay Reatard, who toured the world and released dozens of records over the course of a 15 year career that began in his mid-teens. Original and never-before-seen footage documents his self-made journey to iconic garage rock star, with colleagues, friends, and family speaking candidly about Jay's vibrant and complicated life. Jay Reatard himself - filmed just nine months before his untimely death at the age of twenty-nine - shares his experiences both on and off stage, with all the humor, savvy, and pathos one can expect from such a prolific and vital artist. A FilmBuff Presentation. MPAA Rating: NOT RATED

Ratings and reviews

I gotta be honest - this movie made me cry. In what is a fairly intimate talking-heads style documentary, the inimitable Jimmy Lee Lindsey talks openly about growing up working class in several different rough parts of Memphis. This footage is interspersed with former band-mates and friends talking frankly about Jay and his demons, and how they related to him. It's obvious from these talks, especially with former long-time band-mates like Alicja Trout (Lost Sounds) and Stephen Pope (bass in Jay's solo band), that Jay was not an easy guy to be around at times - due in part to sporadic drug use, though that seems to only partly explain his difficult side; Jay was one intense, passionate artist, who obviously could be a bit of a handful to deal with from time to time as a result of a fiery personality that was probably pushed into the red by, erm, "hard living". Jay was ridiculously prolific, and seemed to really burn white hot with creativity. Yes, his quality control was a bit patchy, but it seems like the guy just needed the catharsis of recording every musical idea that came to him and release it to keep himself sane. Interestingly, several of the more violent and stressful eve