THE WILD & WONDERFUL WHITES OF WEST VIRGINIA
Tuesday & Wednesday at The Ritz
One of the best documentaries we've seen in a long time. We knew West Virginia mountain dancer Jesco White from the 1991 doc DANCING OUTLAW but we never could have suspected that, despite all his gas-huffing, pill-popping and Elvis-emulating, he was the most normal member of his family. THE WILD AND WONDERFUL WHITES paints a vivid, hilarious and genuinely moving portrait of an outlaw clan, straight out of popular myth and legend, surviving into the 21st century and adapting their family's hell-raising folkways to a whole new era. None of the Whites seem to have jobs, there are vague allusions to different criminal activities that may or may not have made them secretly wealthy, and their lives seem to be one big party spiced up with vulgar country music and substance abuse at a level that would put Keith Richards in the ground. There's also some very serious talk about a blood curse and a demon that pursues them. The family has had its share of troubles with murder, drug addiction, alcohol, difficult relationships, guns, inhalant abuse, frequent incarceration, etc. but at the end of this film you may find yourself feeling a swell of admiration for this tightly knit clan who live by an ethos that can best be summed up as, "Fuck It". An instant classic of outlaw cinema.
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