Amateur on Plastic

I thought I was well-versed in most musical styles, but I learned a new term by reading about Butch Willis: Outsider Music. It's defined by artists who have no formal musical training and in many cases mental illness, going from Wikipedia. I'd heard of a number of artists who turn out to fit this category, but wasn't familiar with Willis until seeing this documentary about him. Truth be told, I wasn't quite sure at first whether I was watching a real documentary or a comedy in the style of This is Spinal Tap (the famous "mockumentary" that some viewers mistook for being about a real band). It turns out that Butch Willis is in fact the real deal and has been somewhat of a legend in his native Baltimore.

Amateur on Plastic moves at an extremely frantic pace that may catch you far off-guard on first viewing. Being a video geek I was amused that it opened with color bars and tone, then quickly cutting to video footage from a mid-80s public access cable show where Willis is interviewed. From here we get cuts to Willis in live performances, gatherings, and reciting his lyrics over local scenery. An example of lyrics he shouts out includes "Just spin that radio dial! Listen to those lines! Can you hear the singer? Or are you blind?" More video footage shows him with his band The Rocks playing in local music venues, singing quite loud and a bit off-key, with a guitarist, drummer, and most notably "throat guitarist" Al Breon who "plays" by uttering odd tones and beating his throat rhythmically.

There's little structure to this 73-minute documentary and any attempt to find it is simply futile- the best way to view this is simply to accept that it's going to throw footage in front of you and suddenly cut it off to something from a different place or time. One minute we may be watching the band onstage, then the next instant we're watching Willis in his living room a few decades later giving his memories of preschool. A memorable sound bite from one old interview has him stating that a "clerical oversight" is the only reason he hasn't been signed to a major record label, and that "it's no fun waiting around to become a millionaire." Songs that stand out include one where he repeatedly loudly sings "I'm the kitty cat, I'm the kitty cat" and a slow-paced number with the lyrics "Drugs'll do it to ya, rock, rock, rock!" Later on a camera crew visits his home where he appears to be in a severe decline, slurring his speech and saying "I can't even sing no more" when asked if he was going to perform again. It isn't clear whether this is before or after the footage where he appears older but reasonably articulate.

Amateur on Plastic (the word "plastic" referring to a record) is definitely not a film for everybody. It's the kind that many viewers might not even be able to stick with through the whole thing. Those with an open mind might be amused at Willis' music, and existing fans will at least be pleased that he gets attention here.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
Amateur on Plastic arrives on Blu-ray as a single disc release courtesy of Factory 25 and OCN Distribution. The disc arrives in a clear case - if you ordered from Vinegar Syndrome (the website is currently closed for catchup work after the Halfway to Black Friday Sale) you could score a limited edition slipcover. 

I have to say that this was a very odd title to send to a site called HighDefDigest, as most of this was shot on standard-def video. The only HD content is a few still photos and possibly some recent interview footage of Willis. The entire documentary is presented in standard full screen. The one thing I took issue with was that although the disc is encoded in 60 fields per second, the video is presented in a frame rate closer to 30 so it does not look like a proper videotape. This may have been done intentionally for the documentary, but I've never liked the way this looks. The quality of much of the 1980s footage is rather poor as well- some of it appears to be from second-generation tape sources and has some issues with bending and losing the sync signal.

Audio is encoded in 2-channel standard Dolby Digital. The stereo effect varies, with most of the 1980s video footage being recorded in mono with newer material in decent stereo, some of it sounding like a stereo microphone from a camcorder which is often an interesting effect. Some of the footage also suffers from a bit of distortion from speaking too loud and close to the microphones, but that's typical of such productions.

With the documentary itself being rather short, the extras included here are welcome as they give a bit further insight into Butch Willis:

• Interview Outtakes (HD 23:52) This is the most well-shot footage with Willis at home talking extensively- footage used in the documentary was cropped to 4x3 but is presented in 16x9 here.
• Butch Willis & The Rocks- Live at the 9:30 Club, 1985 (41:03) Video footage of what appears to be a complete concert. Unfortunately this is encoded at 24fps and uses some amateurish video effects which cause the sync to go a bit crazy whenever they occur. Audio is mono and songs are not chaptered.
• This is Proof Speed Works: 8 min short film on The Rocks' guitarist, Ray Wallace (HD 8:30) Wallace plays guitar on his couch
• Compilation of live and in-person performances 1985-2005 (partial HD 13:50)- More footage of Willis in concert from various eras, all encoded in 24fps with the final segment in widescreen and stereo
• Teaser (1:22) consists of a one-take medley of Willis' songs 

Again, Amateur on Plastic isn't for everyone. Knowing that Butch Willis does have fans makes this easy to give a For Fans Only score; others may have different reactions to this ranging from intrigued to amused to simply walking out of it. With standard-def video being the source material for most of this, picture quality can't even be counted as an attribute here.