The lifestyle-accessory moments are not the most compelling in the film. The collectors who are most comfortable on camera joyously celebrate their dorky love of the obscure. They include record producer Don Fleming and members of the band Gumball with their mountain of 8-tracks, and a used-music merchant who displays examples of just about every tape cartridge format ever made.

But as the film unfolds there's no overarching story to advance. Rather, we see multiple nationwide variations on a single theme: although one private dealer in rare tapes appears in the film, for most of the subjects collecting 8-track tapes and tape players at thrift stores was an affordable way to build a kitschy 60s and 70s music collection. The hobbyists say they're analog at heart; because so many of them are given equal time, the film offers plenty of context but lacks narrative rhythm. It's ironic that the filmmakers can't actually explore the musical content on the tapes with any degree of depth, because to do so they would have had to buy rights and pay sync fees to the same music industry that made the 8-track tape obsolete.

If So Wrong They're Right is not your first introduction to the minutiae of pop subcultures (because you belong to one, you study them...or you're breathing), you may find that 90 minutes of 8-track flashback is about 30 minutes too much. It is by sheer length and the leisurely, repetitive nature of its narrative that So Wrong They're Right visualizes the abandoned technology that it documents. It takes a long, slow loop around its subject, its title card transitions are awkward and clunky--and you may have to click through something boring to get to the good parts.

For a whole kit of good parts, check out another recent DVD
from Other
Cinema. A collection of public service announcements, television promos and industrial films salvaged from a Portland TV station dumpster, The 70s Dimension gives you the tools to take your own look back at the decade when the 8-track actually thrived.

Rechercher is the senior editor at Beyond The Roots of Lounge
ed: JH