I wrote a film about a LARP and was afraid this film, by description, would be similar. Luckily, no.
Darkon is a documentary about LARPers in Baltimore.
The movie focuses mostly on the son of the guy who started The Armoury, a company all of us older gamers remember. There is a bit of sad "living it" that goes along with some of the character studies, but it makes for an interesting watch. My attitude is, "Hey, whatever makes you happy."
These people appear as thrilled as they are engaged.
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I was about to start this thread, but you beat me to the punch.
After seeing Darkon on IFC a couple of weeks ago, I taped it. I've been looking for the DVD ever since. I loved it.
Also, I was surprised at the treatment of the LARPing community as real people, not just nerds deserving of our collective scorn. It almost makes me want to find a local LARP club and join. Almost. Personally, I would list this movie as required for any gamer. Seriously.
And by the way, while I'm not an "old" gamer, I do know of the Armory. A friend of mine was heavy into miniatures, and used to buy a lot from them. After seeing how they operate, I'm not sure if that was a good idea... That guy just seemed ... evil. I don't know why, there was just some sort of aura...
My wife and I also saw this movie. We were less impressed than the previous posters I suppose. I was glad to see that it was producec, but felt that there were a few issues. First of all there seemed to be a bit of condescension on the part of the producers. Second I felt the clips were meshed poorly between the 'real world' and the 'larp world'. I was glad to see that some of the complexity of the LARP was captured.
Having previously lived in the Baltimore area for 5 years I thought it was cool to get the 'I recognize/remember that' feeling from time to time throughout the flick.
And by the way, while I'm not an "old" gamer, I do know of the Armory. A friend of mine was heavy into miniatures, and used to buy a lot from them. After seeing how they operate, I'm not sure if that was a good idea... That guy just seemed ... evil. I don't know why, there was just some sort of aura...
Sorry, Shiny. I thought they were gone with 2nd edition. Show's what I know.
Sham, I saw this documentary last night and I didn't sense producer condescension (but I'm curious what you mean exactly). They let the people talk and they talked. Maybe the brilliant stuff was left on the cutting room floor, but I somehow doubt it. I've interviewed LARPers before back in January of '97 and they said the very same things.
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First of all there seemed to be a bit of condescension on the part of the producers.
<SPOILERS>
Watched this last night off the DVR. Overall, I enjoyed the LARP aspects of it. Explaining the game, how the various realms worked, and even getting into detail about how battles resulted in the conquering of hexes on a map. I especially liked the direction and action scenes (great overhead shots, pans, and shots from below). Great music. The dark elves actually looked creepy.
I do think though that "a bit condescending" is a mild statement. It was obvious that they focused in particular on folks who had specific "real world" issues so they could show the contrast between their troubles in the "real world" vs the "fantasy world". The loser house husband, the geek who can't talk to girls, the anal power hungry dweeb. It was a bit much after awhile.
There are plenty of LARP folks who are reasonably successful in their personal lives as well, but of course they don't make for good cinema. What do you do when you're not "Zordon of Morodin?" "I'm a successful system analyst with a nice house, beautiful wife and two great kids." "hurm.... moving on.."
I'd certainly see some mundane's watching this getting the impression/opinion that these folks need to focus more on their "real world" issues and less on the fantasy world vs. getting a "great" impression of LARP.
Pete
MORE SPOILERS:
I respect your well presented opinions, guys. I had a different read on things. I don't think a documentary needs to bolster a hobby's reputation. That's something a documentary can do. This one was about interesting people, and what makes them tick. It wasn't PR for or against.
When this movie started I thought they were going to depict LARPers as socially maladjusted losers. I don't think it was their directorial focus. Movies show misfits making good when they want to grab an audience, they don't show the number one team speed through every victory from the first game up to the end of year win followed by champagne jacuzzis and hookers. Drama is strong when people show us their imperfection.
The producers focused on those two guys in particular because they were the heads of the two factions going to war. Both guys had some issues, and some talent and they were fun to watch. When you make a film you don't focus on system analysts with nice houses and no issues. You focus on that which grabs the camera eye and demands to be shot. Their foibles came across, absolutely, but they weren't unlikeable. I found "Bannor" and the way it went down with his siblings to be quite dramatic and I felt sympathy for him. Clearly he's an engaged dad and his son displays great passion, love and respect. There's nothing wrong with being a house husband and he's doing a good job.
Power mad dweeb is probably just a power mad dweeb, but he was shown to be successful in business. "Bannor" came from lesser circumstances and wound up losing in the end. All part of life's rich and predictable pageant.
I thought the producers probably asked the questions you'd ask anyone engaging in alter ego play. The questions the outsiders want to know. These men gave their answers. The black guys seemed cool when questioned but nothing they said arrested me. There were plenty of cool buff longhairs running around smashing the long term memory from each others skulls with nerf weapons but they said things like, "We're gonna kick their ass... yeah..." Then there's that guy who, at age 20, is working up to eventually considering asking a girl out... hey, that's out there. They may not have glamorized LARPers but you can't say that guy doesn't exist.
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MORE SPOILERS: I found "Bannor" and the way it went down with his siblings to be quite dramatic and I felt sympathy for him. Clearly he's an engaged dad and his son displays great passion, love and respect. There's nothing wrong with being a house husband and he's doing a good job.
I thought Skip's son was great. He reminded me of my cousin when he was that age.
"This is MY castle, not yours, you PATHETIC ORCS!"
I thought Skip's son was great. He reminded me of my cousin when he was that age.
"This is MY castle, not yours, you PATHETIC ORCS!"
Yeah, the kid really swung that sword with gusto. At first it seemed erratically offbeat. Then I had to give it to him when I realized that kid could probably kick everyone else's ass his age.
God, I want to see this so badly.