‘Thax’ For the Chicago Underground Film Festival Memories

CHICAGO – Who is Thax Douglas?

That’s the question the 90-minute documentary “Thax,” which premiered on Aug. 17 at the Chicago Underground Film Festival, tried to answer.

Produced by Stranger Than Films and directed by University of Chicago film student Alex Mackenzie, the film was shot on digital video and 16 millimeter.


“Thax”
Image courtesy of Alex Mackenzie
A poet who has opened for bands ranging from the Dandy Warhols to Lesser Birds of Paradise, he’s as iconic to the Chicago music scene as Ronnie Woo is to the Chicago Cubs.

The picture itself explores with varying success what it is that makes Thax Douglas relevant as artist and celebrity by three different methods. First, the film uses interviews with Thax and his parents to paint a back story.

The audience gets a brief and unfulfilling look into Thax’s past, which features a bad electroshock therapy experience, a failed attempt at homosexuality and a night of dancing with Jeffrey Dahmer.

Second, the film interviews major players from the music scene over the last 15 years including Ted Leo, Jeff Tweedy and Tim Tuten. Giving the film a certain amount of hipster cred, it was intriguing to hear why the musicians and fans have found a place for Thax’s poetry at rock concerts.

Finally, the film follows where Thax is going in his life circa late 2004. The filmmakers follow him to Madison Square Garden and later to a musical video shoot in Los Angeles.

While there did seem to be more than enough on the subject to fill a feature-length documentary, the film was padded with several scenes of the Chicago El train as Thax goes to and from venues. If I learned nothing else about Thax Douglas, it was that he doesn’t own a car.

Since the picture relied solely on natural lighting, the florescent lights of the trains and subway station made for an ugly portrait. The lighting was also a major problem when the filmmaker interviewed people outside clubs at night and inside the house of Thax’s parents.

As I squinted to make out the silhouette of his mom, I cursed the director under my breath for not investing in at least one light. However, what the film lacks in picture quality it makes up for by relying on a soundtrack of some of Chicago’s best independent bands.

They beautifully compliment the simple poet’s life. The film’s main glitch was a lack of a thorough examination. While most of it tries to primarily follow a no-narration, direct cinema-style approach, you can hear the filmmaker’s voice leading interviews off camera.

While the audience is led to believe that all of Thax’s mental and behavioral issues are correlated to “allergies,” the filmmakers never follow up on the validity of these statements.

Furthermore, areas like Thax’s love-hate relationship with the Wilco book entitled “Wilco: Learning How to Die” (which brings him national exposure) are never explored. Instead, superfluous screen time is given to a child choking on an M&M at a concert.

So who is Thax? Thax is a sweet, funny and captivating man. The eponymous film shares many of the same qualities.

By Dustin Levell
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com

© 2007 Dustin Levell, HollywoodChicago.com