By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Director: Michael Dimmitt
Year: 2023
Running time: 98
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18328388/reference/
Brett says: “There are a few approaches one can take toward a documentary, and this project from Michael Dimmitt falls into that category of telling a story that its small target audience mostly already knows or is largely familiar with. A WANDERING PATH focuses on lesser known indie/underground music projects within the death metal, doom metal, prog rock, and noise scene that were (and are) part of the Gilead Media music label.
“Going into this documentary, there is definitely an undercurrent that outsiders are not exactly there to be educated about anything from this music scene. There is an expectation that one might know or have heard about each group featured ahead of time. This is a work that dabbles into different musical acts and provides different philosophies or inspirations from each act while reliving many of the groups’ beginnings and respective histories. Large portions of it are pontifications from band members about what is being attempted in each of their bands and the music. Some of the testimonials are a little lofty and frothy in their themes, but to each their own.
“It’s a little bit of an odd feel for a ‘historic’ documentary because this is a label that’s still going and the origins referenced go all the way back to (gasp) 2005 and most of the acts have late 2000s and early 2010s references as their ‘nostalgia.’ Again, outsiders are not going to recognize any of this material, so it’s best to go into it understanding that Dimmitt is writing a love letter to a small host of subgenres and a subculture that is its own tight knit community and is celebrating the youth of it while it’s still young. For context, their ‘major’ music festival that is presented as this iconic ‘Woodstock’ of underground death and doom metal is a crowd of around 600, if that. While numbers do not mean it’s insignificant and shouldn’t be lauded, it’s just an interesting stat when observing how cosmic, important, and influential the tone of the documentary presents this music scene.
“There is nothing wrong with producing a work that is simply a reflection for the fandom as a collective. The thing to keep in mind is that if you’re on the outside looking in it’s just not going to hit the same as it does for those that are already in the know. There are definitely some interesting stories mixed into in the second half of this, and that is one of the biggest saving graces and hooks of the film.”
A Wandering Path (The Story of Gilead Media)