Donovan Brandt

En respectant les codes visuels du support, rembobinage compris, ce documentaire conte avec brio la révolution artistique, sociale et économique fomentée par la petite boîte noire, qui ira jusqu’à faire souffler un vent de liberté (et de capitalisme) sur le bloc communiste. Nourri d’interviews de compulsifs et sympathiques pionniers de la vidéo, ce film plonge aussi dans la délirante culture visuelle générée par ce média, exemples improbables à l’appui (jeu télévisé canin, manuel de séduction, cours d’aérobic avec bébé au bras…).

Charlotte is a woman with anger management issues whose therapist suggests she write a journal to keep her emotions in check. Unlucky in love, she ventures online to find a boyfriend. Just as she reaches her limit of unsuccessful dates, Charlotte meets her soul mate Lyle. Everything is perfect until Lyle finds Charlotte's journal and sets out to prove just how deeply he loves her.

As the dissociated convenience of the Internet and globalized corporate culture continue to shut down brick-and-mortar video stores, what will happen to the longstanding, local hangouts with their rugged individuals known as clerks and the communities who love them? Videosyncracy follows three very different video rental stores as they negotiate their survival in three distinct Los Angeles neighborhoods: Old Bank DVD in the Downtown arts district, Vidiots in sunny seaside Santa Monica, and Eddie Brandt’s Saturday Matinee in bustling North Hollywood. Their stories chronicle not only the birth and twilight of a particular kind of corner store, but also decades of personal lives intertwined with those of their communities, the new challenges and facilities of a rapidly changing world, and an enduring love of the movies, a slice of Americana on the brink of disappearance yet defiant to the end.