NXNE Film Review: Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread [2010, Raphael Erichsen]

Toronto – Much to the chagrin of many of people I’m sure, I did not know who Don Letts is. I did not know he was one of the founding members of Big Audio Dynamite nor did I know he was considered one of the pioneers that were credited with combining elements of punk and reggae music together, a move that influenced bands such as The Clash as well as Virgin’s Frontline reggae label.

Having seen Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread, I now know all this information, so I guess I am a better man for it. As you can imagine, this movie is about one Don Letts. Taking you back to the 70s with archival footage, Don Letts you know (haha bad pun, I know) about all the circumstances that resulted in him being who he is. As a veteran UK music documentary viewer, this was all old hat to me, but it’s always nice to see old footage. At least this documentary doesn’t have Johnny Depp making random appearances.

Those looking for any in depth stories from the olden days or his career post Big Audio Dynamite will be disappointed as this documentary seems to be more concerned about Don Lett’s relationship with his son Jet then anything else. It appears that they have only been recently rediscovering this relationship (I’m sure every rock star and child have some fragmented relationships). Jet himself is a producer and DJ and is obviously influenced by his father and at the same time, kind of living in his shadow. It must suck living your life knowing that you will never be as cool as your father. Much of the documentary involves Don and his son walking around various parts of London, talking about music and discussing their lives. It’s about as interesting as it sounds.

All in all, you can consider this to be a nice surface glance at Don Letts, and features some information about reggae/punk/dub scene in England. I found there to be too much father-son shenanigans and it would have been nice to get some testimonials from other people, as this film was pretty much Don Lett speaking the entire time.

Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread plays at NFB on June 18th at 4:30

Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread (Trailer) from Edward Dallal on Vimeo.



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Posted on June 15, 2010 by Ricky in North By Northeast

About Ricky

Britpop lovin Chinaman, consumer of all things irrelevant. Toronto Raptors fan.

  • Pablo

    i also didn’t know anything about Don Letts but frankly, i found the film beautiful, funny and interesting. that being said, its really a film that has to be watched more then once to be fully enjoyed. Saw it twice myself, once at the NFB and then at the Toronto Underground Cinema, enjoyed it much more the second time. i love the fact that isn’t like all the other band/musician documentaries out there in the sense of “lets just get celebrities to talk about how great this person is”. the no-budget, guerrilla style of film-making really helped me understand him and his son Jet as a person much more then any amount of outsider cock-sucking would.