The Tribeca Brats Premier aka A Parade Of Our Youth
The highly anticipated documentary, Brats, is unintentionally a beautiful excavation of our own youth.
I didn’t think the film could satisfy me. Let’s be honest… you, me and everyone we know thinks they are the biggest John Hughes fan. We think we know everything about the Brat Pack and no one could understand what the members and the movies they made together did for our adolescence and for the culture. I saw this in action last night first-hand at the Brats premier at the Tribeca Film Festival. This year, covering Tribeca has proven to be a very difficult task. The “press pass” that I have been accredited for may as well be a freebie sticker in a Cracker Jack box and provides me with absolutely nothing- maybe even less than a ticket holder, so I was not taking any chances with the premier of Brats. I purchased two tickets to the premier the second they were posted and Jayce and I bullied our way to the red carpet arrivals like the groupies that we are.
When the doors opened, I had to laugh because it was seemingly the entire population of Gen X pushing, yes pushing violently through the door. I am telling the absolute truth here, one Gen X-er yelled “Get your sh*t together, moron!!” at the poor volunteer who asked everyone to calm down. Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy and John Cryer (who refers to himself as Brat Pack adjacent ) were all there. The audience was completely invested and audibly emotional during the screening. I was absolutely in the right place to see this film.
The documentary is technically based on Andrew McCarthy’s autobiography, Brat, which we all devoured a couple years ago. I listened to mine read by him which I highly recommend. The book goes much further than the documentary of course and while it’s juicy in parts, that is not its purpose. Every actor should read it, and if you are an actor in NY you could get angry because it might sound exactly like your own life. Except for the Brat Pack part.
The film, however, focuses specifically on re-examining the 1985 article titled Hollywood’s Brat Pack written for New York Magazine which coined the term that would bestow a stigma on those mentioned in it that would follow them for 30 years.
Andrew seeks to track down those affected by the article, and they just happen to be very famous…. And thankfully, many of them agree to talk to Andrew about this time together and what it meant to them in the most honest and rawest way imaginable. Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, Jon Cryer, Howie Deutch, and Leah Thompson all weigh in on the effects of the article and their observations are fascinating.
I won’t go into what the Brat Pack and the 80’s did to help me find myself because that is boring, but Andrew McCarthy will in this doc ad nauseam. He uses a really creative visual language too so we are not watching the same old interview set up - thank you! The look is like a digital scrapbook full of varying texture. He seeks in the film to unite fellow Brat Packers to philosophize about what the article, the pigeon- hole and that Brat Pack label did to their identity and their career.
“Whatever? Who Cares?” you say? “They should be happy they were made famous with the article!” “No press is bad press.” Well…. watch the doc. You are going to be in HEAVEN if you truly are a fan because you will hear very intelligent, well-spoken, iconic artists all wax poetic about this era and not what it did for us, but what it did for THEM. And their takes are really really interesting.
The highlight of the film is the end when McCarthy confronts the writer of the article, David Blum. At the premier, there were audible responses and I won’t give away what they were because I want you to watch the film and then tell me what you thought of it. Let’s just say, every story has a villain. It’s up to the audience to decide weather Blum is that villain… and McCarthy lays all perspectives on the table.
The Q & A did not disappoint. Along with many anecdotes and things that we already knew, Demi was in full-on therapist mode just as she was in the film, providing snappy affirmations and observations that are worthy of being stitched onto throw pillows, Jon Cryer told the story about hating Andrew McCarthy so passionately that he never spoke to him for 30 years… until he called for him to appear in this documentary. And David Blum also showed up to double down yet again about the “benefits” of his article, and the exchange with McCarthy was hilarious.
Bottom Line? (That’s code for I’m scared I’ve gone on too long and you are bored)
Andrew McCarthy introduced the film by apologizing to an executive. In the story, he yelled “This is my life!” to which the executive responded “Yeah, but your life is my youth!”. And there it is. Yes, it’s interesting to hear what all the actors and big thinkers like Malcolm Gladwell have to say about these films and their place in the world, very interesting in fact, but what you will walk away with is feeling like all of these films were important, so are the people who made them ,and so are the people who love them. Many pieces of this story may seem trivial, and like first world problems, but after watching Brats, you receive the validation you crave for being passionate members the club of misfits who wanted to be living the lives in St. Elmo’s Fire.
Brats directed by Andrew McCarthy will premier on Hulu June 13th. Have Fun!
LINKS!
The best book I’ve ever read about John Hughes and this genre:
You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried by Susannah Gora
Brat by Andrew McCarthy
New York Magazine Article Hollywood’s Brat Pack by David Blum