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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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 … Continue reading →

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, … Continue reading →

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, … Continue reading →