The Family Jams

The low-key, hand-held “Family Jams” may not ever attain the stature of, say, a concert film like D. A. Pennebaker’s “Don’t Look Back.” But it should, as a record of musicians in youthful flower, sharing a loose, heartfelt camaraderie and lack of pretension.

Webster, Andy, “A ‘Freak Folk’ Music Moment” The New York Times, April 7, 2011.

A curiously effective musical docu that captures the raw dynamics of collective creativity, “The Family Jams” was shot during the 2004 tour of an eclectic traveling troupe composed of “freak folk” artist Devendra Banhart, polyrhythmic harpist/singer Joanna Newsom and Andy Cabic’s group Vetiver.

Scheib, Ronne, “Film Reviews: The Family Jams” Variety, April 7, 2011.

The film’s scrapbook style fits with the performances and with the anecdotal episodes in between—as when the notoriously hirsute Mr. Banhart recounts being mistaken for Jesus during an overnight stay in a Brooklyn jail.

Time makes Mr. Barker’s modest film a more valuable pop-culture artifact than he might have imagined, but its charms guarantee enjoyable viewing even if these folks had vanished into obscurity.

Dollar, Steve, “Awakened Identities” The Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2011.

When you land on the Wall Street Journal’s page, you’ll need to scroll down to see their review of The Family Jams.

With little insight into either the musical process or what it means to be a makeshift family, Barker’s eye-gouging project definitively gives the lie to the notion that any asshole with a digital camera can magically turn out cinema.

Schenker, Andrew, “The Family Jams: Only for Die-Hard ‘Freak Folk’ Fanatics” The Village Voice, April 6, 2011.

Especially considering how much has changed for these performers in the past seven years, this final scene is nostalgic, intimate and kind of bittersweet. But above all, it makes you so glad you came along for the ride.

Darwin, Liza, “Movie Review: The Family Jams.” Nylon Magazine, March 31, 2011.