{"id":4613,"date":"2016-04-13T16:36:04","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T21:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/isplotchy.com\/blog\/?p=4613"},"modified":"2016-04-14T21:49:08","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T02:49:08","slug":"the-beaver-trilogy-part-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isplotchy.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/the-beaver-trilogy-part-iv\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beaver Trilogy Part IV"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hi,<\/p>\n<p>My apologies for the tardiness of this post. \u00a0Yes, I realize no one was waiting for me to write this.<\/p>\n<p>I saw a really wonderful film called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt4264834\/\">The Beaver Trilogy Part IV<\/a>\u00a0at the Midwest Independent Film Festival. \u00a0Let me back up.<\/p>\n<p>It was probably 10 years ago or so when I saw the movie <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0256639\/\">The Beaver Trilogy<\/a>. \u00a0I have no recollection how I learned about it or the local screening I attended.\u00a0 Maybe it was a Critic&#8217;s Choice in the Chicago Reader at the time? \u00a0It was a free screening, and wasn&#8217;t at a movie theater. \u00a0I saw the movie at Columbia College, in downtown Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>I had no expectations. \u00a0It is\u00a0a strange movie. \u00a0It contains\u00a0three short movies tied together, hence the &#8220;trilogy&#8221; of the title. \u00a0The first part is a documentary about &#8220;Groovin&#8217; Gary&#8221;. \u00a0The next two movies are fictionalized retellings of the first, along with scenes that would be considered &#8220;behind-the-scenes&#8221; of the first part.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s on YouTube. \u00a0Pleeeeeease watch it. \u00a0It&#8217;s wonderful.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_74702\"  width=\"474\" height=\"267\"  data-origwidth=\"474\" data-origheight=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eH-5ThzYUfU?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Okay, have you watched it? \u00a0Pretty amazing, huh?<\/p>\n<p>I know there is a &#8220;wow&#8221; factor for the 2nd and 3rd parts of the movie, in that the respective leads in each movie would go on to become famous for other roles. \u00a0Sure, that&#8217;s cool. \u00a0But what struck me so much was what I felt when I watched it. \u00a0I felt so much empathy for Groovin&#8217; Gary. \u00a0He was goofy, but genuine, ambitious, naive, sincere.<\/p>\n<p>You don&#8217;t get the full story of Groovin&#8217; Gary, at least not directly from him. \u00a0The 2nd and 3rd parts of the trilogy have an event which takes place that may or may not be fiction. \u00a0Did it happen? \u00a0One strong impression that I got from this movie was that the filmmaker was a little haunted by his brief encounter with Gary. \u00a0There was self-criticism and empathy from him in equal measure.<\/p>\n<p>I only watched The Beaver Trilogy one time, but it stayed with me, for years.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, so I used to volunteer a lot at the Midwest Film Festival. \u00a0It&#8217;s on the first Tuesday of every month, showing films having some kind of midwestern connection. \u00a0I thought I&#8217;d volunteer for the April screening. \u00a0HOWEVER, I learned that something called &#8220;The Beaver Trilogy Part IV&#8221; would be playing. \u00a0Whoa! \u00a0I learned later it had played Sundance the year prior, but this was the first time I was aware of it. \u00a0I HAD TO SEE IT. \u00a0Maybe I&#8217;d get some of the questions I had answered!<\/p>\n<p>I learned when I got to the theater that the director of the original Trilogy, Trent Harris, had not directed Part IV. \u00a0I was a little bummed, but hopeful. \u00a0What unfolded in Part IV was both a heartfelt tribute to the original Beaver Trilogy, to the original Groovin&#8217; Gary (real name Richard Griffiths), and to Trilogy&#8217;s filmmaker Trent Harris himself.\u00a0It was a great, affectionate, warm movie. \u00a0I loved it. \u00a0I had my questions answered, and I was so glad I got to see it.<\/p>\n<p>The film&#8217;s director, Brad Besser, actually flew in for the screening. I was able to talk to him afterwards. \u00a0He was gracious and friendly, and it was obvious this was a movie he made with all his heart. \u00a0Also, I learned from him, it was likely he who was partially responsible for the original Beaver Trilogy movie being screened at Columbia College &#8212; he was a student of\u00a0Columbia at\u00a0the time, and pushed hard for a screening of the film. \u00a0He wanted other people to see it.<\/p>\n<p>So thanks, Mr. Besser, for showing me the first Trilogy, and double-triple-quadruple thanks for making Part IV. \u00a0THANK YOU.<\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t know if I can throw any traffic Mr. Besser&#8217;s way, but please, \u00a0order the movie and watch it. It&#8217;s on VOD, it&#8217;s on iTunes. \u00a0Besser, Trent Harris, and most of all, Groovin&#8217; Gary, deserve it.<\/p>\n<p>Trailer for Part IV: \u00a0There is a link to buy the movie on \u00a0YouTube. \u00a0You can also search for the film on iTunes and purchase it there.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\"  id=\"_ytid_24809\"  width=\"474\" height=\"267\"  data-origwidth=\"474\" data-origheight=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CM3OeT_NZRc?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi, My apologies for the tardiness of this post. \u00a0Yes, I realize no one was waiting for me to write this. I saw a really wonderful film called The Beaver Trilogy Part IV\u00a0at the Midwest Independent Film Festival. \u00a0Let me back up. It was probably 10 years ago or so when I saw the movie &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/isplotchy.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/the-beaver-trilogy-part-iv\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Beaver Trilogy Part IV<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,1],"tags":[438,437],"class_list":["post-4613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies","category-uncategorized","tag-beaver-trilogy","tag-groovin-gary"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Beaver Trilogy Part IV - SPLOTCHY<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/isplotchy.com\/blog\/2016\/04\/the-beaver-trilogy-part-iv\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Beaver Trilogy Part IV - SPLOTCHY\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hi, My apologies for the tardiness of this post. \u00a0Yes, I realize no one was waiting for me to write this. 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