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Clarence Tsui

DIG!

Starring: Anton Newcombe and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Courtney Taylor and the Dandy Warhols

Director: Ondi Timoner

The film: In covering seven years in the lives of two budding American rock bands, Ondi Timoner's DIG! reveals where 'the delicate balance between art and commerce' can lead to when the game is played differently: fame and fortune on the one hand, or neurosis and self-implosion on the other.

The former is represented by Courtney Taylor's Dandy Warhols, an average, media-savvy indie combo with an ear for radio-friendly anthems. Opposite them are Anton Newcombe and his Brian Jonestown Massacre, a group of unreconstructed drugged-up rockers who spent as much time messing up their lines - or doing them - as they did in delivering their own take of psychedelia circa 1967.

'It's his idea of getting a Blur-Oasis thing going,' mutters Taylor (pictured left with Newcombe) after another round of intimidation from his   demented adversary.

But if the Albarn-Gallagher fiasco was a meticulously organised gunfight, the one in DIG! is a shabby pub brawl: there's no coverage on primetime news or marketing wars, just the exchange of diatribes and - in Newcombe's case - the sending of used shotgun shells to your rivals as 'presents'.

Through cleverly chosen cuts from nearly 2,000 hours of footage, Timoner deftly charts the  divergent courses of the Dandys and the BJM. Taylor and Co soldier on slowly towards stardom and the stadium circuit by playing patiently by the rules; Newcombe - a messy mix of egotistical self-belief and a near Cobain-esque fear of success - sabotages his career again and again by either thrashing out at his bandmates in industry showcases, playing a 10-hour set in front of an audience of 10 or firing his long-suffering manager on stage in the middle of a grinding tour across America.

Far from just a voyeuristic journey, DIG!  succeeds in revealing something deeper about  the cultural malaise in American counter-culture since the Nirvana-led grunge revolution of the early 1990s: that for leftfield artists to succeed, exploitation by the industry is a given.  It's merely a case of how much one tolerates compromise.

The extras: This excellent two-disc set includes more choice cuts from Timoner's bank of unused footage, revealing more of Newcombe's unbearably bizarre behaviour - wild recording sessions and chest-beating rants on rooftops  -  as well as music videos and live performances. The audio commentaries are engrossing, especially those from former BJM members, Matt Hollywood and Joel Gion, who provide punchy perspectives on an incredible trip from next big things to has-beens.

The verdict:  Paints a cutting picture of the ramshackle  world of alternative music in the US and  ranks with the very best rock documentaries.



DIG!