I Am Not A Hipster: NIGHTLIFE.CA presents the film’s Quebec premiere at PHI Centre

The title alone elicits strong love-it-or-hate-it reactions. My initial concern: would this be one of those insufferable, self-consumed dramas about irritating twentysomethings who make important Art, preach the Self-Deprecating Way of Life and yet systematically look down on those they've tagged with the dreaded “hipster” label? I was ready to pounce on the Sundance film’s plaid-clad, skinny frame before the opening credits even began to roll.

Perhaps the greatest achievement of I Am Not A Hipster, director Destin Daniel Cretton’s endearing debut feature, is that it’s actually the opposite of what you expect it to be. On the surface a film about Brook (Dominic Bogart), a self-involved, acclaimed San Diego singer-songwriter who spends his days affectedly moping around his messy apartment and barking a great deal of hostility at everyone around him, I Am Not A Hipster quickly reveals itself to be so much more. The story of a broken musician protecting himself from all pain with a kryptonite asshole coating, Hipster eventually finds Brooke mourning the death of his mother and using music as an outlet to channel his grief. In more ways than one, Cretton’s film is an understated celebration of art’s transformative potential.

 
BFFs Brook (Dominic Bogart) and Clarke (Alvaro Orlando) in I Am Not A Hipster

Love The Film, Hate The Title
Cretton, whose sophomore feature Short Term 12 won both the Narrative Grand Jury Award and the Audience Award at South By Southwest in Austin last week, told me I wasn’t the only one put off by Hipster’s terribly self-conscious title. “People love to hate that title!," acknowledged Cretton. “I’ve had so many people come up to me after the movie and say, ‘I came because I hate your movie’s title and I wanted to hate your movie, but I ended up really connecting with it and finding out that it’s not about shallow hipsters.’ I love the title because it sets people up for something they’re not going to get – in the end, they get something more real and genuine. I like seeing that.”

That title perfectly sets up the film’s first act – during which Brook wallows in a cage of self-loathing he alone trapped himself in. In an early scene, a too-cool-for-school Brook lashes out at a poor radio DJ, who never saw the tornado tantrum coming, as soon as the topic of Brook’s deceased mom is brought up in an interview. But the sulky musician slowly warms up and deals with all that pent-up angst when his three bubbly sisters show up at his doorstep.

Right: Director Destin Daniel Cretton at SXSW '13 (Credit Michael Buchner)

Crapping All Over Contemporary Art
One of the film’s most interesting dynamics, Brook entertains a complicated relationship with his overzealous BFF/#1 fan/“sorta manager” Clarke (Alvaro Orlando), a fixed-gear riding artist who embodies a lot of the fluffy, superficial qualities that Brook resents about the contemporary art world. At one point, Brook rips Clarke a new one when he tells him that “there are too many assholes out there with cameras and computers making pointless crap and calling it art.”

“There are a lot of my own questions wrapped up in the Brook and Clarke characters,” said Cretton. “I personally strive to be more like Clarke but there is a lot of truth to Brooke’s statement. I think it’s great that there’s so much being produced now, I just don’t think we’ve quite figured out how to organize it all to really help us benefit from it as a society. But I think that’s really exciting too. I teach part-time at a high school and am always around young, eager high school-age filmmakers, and I actually think it’s amazing that they now have all the tools they need to express themselves in so many varied ways. I don’t see how that could be a bad thing for society.”

I Am Not A Hipster
Quebec premiere on Monday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m.
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