5 Comments on Darkon

Eddie Kasica on Thu, 29th Jul 2010 7:39 am


Even here in the Land of Amnesia, one wonders: why would anyone spend time, thought and many dollars producing and distributing a documentary about a bunch of aimless white 20-something males doing nothing particularly interesting? In Year 8 of the Bush Reich, isn’t there a motherlode of tragic and heroic stories to tell? Not for the intrepid Luke Neel and Andrew Meyer. They would rather focus on the “souls” and “alter egos” of people who have nothing better to do in the face of Katrina, Bush, Iraq, Bush, torture, the suspension of the Constitution, Bush, Iran, etc than dress up in funny costumes, wail on each other, get drunk without anyone in sight(especially the filmmakers) having a moral thought about themselves, their country or the world.

Now of course any subject can be made artful in the hands of artists. And a community of lost souls is certainly a worthy subject these days, because no one knows what to do in the face of our current insanity. Since what this particular group of lost souls do is play games of war, it would seem a natural lead-in to so many things: how the loss of community over decades moves people to join in these silly stunts, how there is no worker structure any more to perhaps embody the natural instinct to strike out at power, how white males are brought up to view war and domination. Most relevantly: why would these folks get sucked into such a waste of time when there is so much to do, so many people to help, so many questions to ask?

“Darkon” asks none of them. And aside from some shallow acknowledgement of a world _out there_, the filmmakers ignore the possibly rich metaphorical connections they could make. If they had any vision. But they don’t. Still, the film may “succeed” with the Teen or 20-something male DVD audience between replays of “Day of Wrath”(not the Dreyer!) and the upcoming “Rambo 4″ in which Sly Stallone personally beheads Osama bin laden(using a sharpened bone from Saddam Hussein’s corpse).

But how ’bout a documentary called “Darko”, about the Serbian NBA player who never played with the champion Pistons but is now doing such a good job with Memphis? Now there’s a subject!: sports, the War in Yugoslavia, and a girl in every port.
Rating: 1 / 5

Robert P. Beveridge on Thu, 29th Jul 2010 10:07 am


Darkon (Luke Meyer and Andrew Neel, 2005)

One review I read of Darkon recently defends the movie by saying that (forgive my paraphrasing) it doesn’t make fun of its subjects, that it is an apologetic rather than being apologetic. I saw it in quite the opposite light; it seems much more the case to me that the filmmakers here gave the subjects of the movie just enough rope, and they fashioned some pretty gaudy nooses with it.

Darkon, named after the live-action wargaming club it documents, shows us some of the principal players and traces one of the game’s plot lines. We get a number of interviews with players, all of them sounding distressingly similar: “the real world is just not a place where I fit in. In the game, I’m a different person.” Which is, of course, an entirely valid viewpoint– substitute guns and cannons for the padded weaponry and you’ve got civil war re-enactors– but it’s the sheer volume of the interviews that tips this over the line from serious study to poking fun. Whether this was intentional on the part of the filmmakers or a simple bout of amateurishness I don’t know. Figuring out what to cut, especially when your movie is already only barely topping ninety minutes, can be a tough task.

The storyline we follow is a great deal more interesting, and it is here where the film tips its hand that this was meant to be a serious study. There was great thought given to the way it unfolds in the film; we get the idea early on that years have gone into the preparation for this storyline, and the filmmakers show their talent in their ability to capture all that in a relatively small amount of screen time, getting us up to speed and telling us what we need to know with no bloat at all. When the film is focused on the story going on within Darkon, as opposed to the story of Darkon, it’s a great deal of fun.

In the end, I have to put my ultimate dissatisfaction with the film in the hands of the filmmakers, not their subjects. I can only surmise that the reason for the inclusion of so many repetitive interviews was, given the film’s length, as filler; a shorter movie may not have been desirable from a marketing standpoint, but it would have done wonders for the quality. As it is now, though, I can’t recommend it. **

Rating: 2 / 5

Capt. McPl0x on Thu, 29th Jul 2010 10:19 am


There is no reason for this documentary to be as long as it is. An hour would have been sufficiently to covered the topic.

Rating: 2 / 5

James John Bell on Thu, 29th Jul 2010 1:03 pm


Darkon follows the drama of a live action fantasy role playing game (LARP) with a sword and sorcery setting. The game depicted in the film is very similar to SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) which recreates pre-17th century Western European history and culture. The plot focuses on in-game drama, both in live action battles and the role playing of diplomacy among the various player created nation-states. The documentary aspect cuts away from this in-game drama to explore the real lives of the players and look into their motivations for playing. A tension is created between the lives of players in-game and out-of-game especially when allegiances among the players shift.

The historic moment in-game that the film follows is similar to the plot of Braveheart. An imperialist empire, called Mordom (pronounced “more dumb”), is controlling more and more and more territory and destroying or enslaving smaller nations for wealth and power in the name of freedom (hmmm…Mordom, kingdom, freedom). A small kingdom decides to fight this empire by forging an alliance among start-up and fallen states. In RL (real life) these rebels are low-wage workers, a single mom, stay-at-home dad, and Iraq vets. Those who lead the side of the empire in real life are corporate white collar types. At one point a player in the rebel alliance comments that the Alliance is like the terrorists and Mordom is like America. The tension builds through the film in-game and out as the final battle approaches, one that determines the fate of the realms.

Darkon is extremely well edited and thought out. Like in other such live action games, like Vampire: The Masquerade LARP, the goal is to not let the rules of the game get in the way of the story. In the same way the film makers shoot and edit each scene so that the non-gamer can enjoy it perfectly fine, but there is tons for the hard core gamer as well. Interviews, especially with the players on the alliance side, tend to repeat the same reasons for playing the game, i.e. escape from a crappy life. This mantra adds to the in-game tension as it raises the stakes for victory. Intentionally, or not, the film has something to say about societies losers and winners, and who are the real heroes.
Rating: 5 / 5

Amaranth on Thu, 29th Jul 2010 3:36 pm


“Darkon” is a fun,fascinating look at the world of wargaming. The movie opens with Dark Elves intoning chants as they prepare for a sacrifice. It begins with the game… but then the action moves to real life. There’s a single mother who’s been a stripper,an Iraq War vet,a CEO,and a stay at-home father. The gamers come from all walks of life. They have mundane jobs,but wargaming gives them an outlet.

“Darkon” is a form of escape for some more than others. At a late night meeting at Denny’s,Skip Lipman is told,”It’s JUST A GAME!” Others see it as a form of amusement, or a way to build their skills. Skip’s blurring of reality and fantasy is oddly reminiscent of Tom Hanks’ character in “Mazes and Monsters”,a movie that presaged LARPs. The late Gary Gygax would’ve been amused.

“Darkon” is an interesting look at the fantasy gaming life. It was primarily filmed in Baltimore,Maryland (at whose Renaissance Faire the infamously bad “Max Magician and the Legend of the Rings” was filmed) It’s riveting. “Darkon” won many audience awards at SXSW,and deservedly so. It’s a D&D documentary.
Rating: 5 / 5

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