AT FIRSTGLANCE: Burning Witches

On paper, the plan in Philly-bred director Jennifer Barbaro's music video, Burning Witches, makes total sense. A rock 'n' roll band is on stage playing to a crowd of nuns. After hearing the righteous rock assault, the nuns strip and get down and dirty. Hijinks ensue.

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AT FIRSTGLANCE: Burning Witches

POSTED: Friday, October 14, 2011, 10:00 AM

Filed Under: Movies | Film Fest Movie Review

Check this space all week for reviews and coverage of the 2011 FirstGlance Film Festival.

On paper, the plan in Philly-bred director Jennifer Barbaro's music video, Burning Witches, makes total sense. A rock 'n' roll band is on stage playing to a crowd of nuns. After hearing the righteous rock assault, the nuns strip and get down and dirty. Hijinks ensue. Oh, and the footage is be intercut with the frontman lying down, preparing to die, because being a big-time rock 'n' roller isn't easy.

Surprisingly, the finished product doesn't deliver. The band isn't aware of the failed execution, but the dancers sure are. Their facial expressions suggest that they're merely counting the seconds until it's all over. And when they strip it's clear it's because the director told them to. The music itself doesn't help, either. The band sounds like a diet version of Godsmack.

The grand concept of the singer battling his demons comes across as really dumb, at best. Whenever you see him on stage, he's either preening like a Billy Idol-wannabe, bro-ing out with the guitarist, or twirling his guitar. Never do you get the impression that he's struggling with something. If he's struggling with anything, it's not on the screen.

Things come out flat and over-rehearsed. The band's look — with dyed hair, leather and tattoos — just doesn't seem real. It's like they think if they're dressed the part, the rest will just magically happen. It doesn't.

CITY PAPER GRADE: D-

Sat., Oct. 15, 5:45 p.m., $10, screens with Love, Processed, The Kook, FLAGPOLE, Meet Me On South Street, Franklin Institute, 222 N. 20th St., firstglancefilms.com/philadelphia.

(chris.brown@citypaper.net)

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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