Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession

2004

Action / Biography / Documentary / History

6
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 100% · 12 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 86% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.6/10 10 1928 1.9K

interview biography eccentric memory los angeles, california retrospective

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Plot summary

A documentary on the Z Channel, one of the first pay cable stations in the US, and its programming chief, Jerry Harvey. Debuting in 1974, the LA-based channel's eclectic slate of movies became a prime example of the untapped power of cable television.

Director

Xan Cassavetes Photo
Xan Cassavetes

Top cast

Quentin Tarantino Photo
Quentin Tarantino as Self
Alan Rudolph Photo
Alan Rudolph as Self
Henry Jaglom Photo
Henry Jaglom as Self
James Woods Photo
James Woods as Self
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
1.09 GB
1280*720
English 2.0
R
us  
24 fps
2 hr 1 min
Seeds ...
2.03 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
R
us  
24 fps
2 hr 1 min
Seeds 4

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by R T 10 / 10

An amazing story about movies and a tragic

An amazing story about movies and a tragic life story of an interesting yet deeply disturbed man.
Reviewed by R T 10 / 10

I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary, which is a

I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary, which is a twofold tale of the first real television network for cineastes (i.e. film geeks) of its kind, serving the Los Angeles metropolitan area from the mid '70s to the early '90s, and the visionary master programmer Jerry Harvey who elevated the network to documentary-worthy heights. Director Xan Cassavetes (daughter of the legendary independent and iconoclast filmmaker John Cassavetes) spun these stories with an engaging and fun style. She accomplished this in a number of ways. There are the great testimonials on the philosophy and workings of Z Channel from many of the key people who were there with Harvey for the station's epic-but-all-too-abbreviated glory days, along with the several featured artists, some of whom benefited from the existence of Z directly and some who were inspired by it before breaking into the business. Some of my favourite film people are in here -- Jim Jarmusch, Robert Altman, Henry Jaglom, and Quentin Tarantino, among them. Of course, what all of these people have in common is a genuine love for film as an art form and they convey it beautifully in the finished product here. Also effective and important to this story are the plethora of given examples of Z Channel's diverse programming - titles, titles, titles (I took note of some stuff I haven't seen yet, but want to, such as "The Leopard," "Images," and "Overlord") - which sumptuously show the sheer scope of what was served up for hungry film lover's consumption. I was most impressed by Z's dedication to airing the complete and uncut versions of such films as "Berlin Alexanderplatz" (15-and-a-half hours long) "Heaven's Gate," "1900," and "Das Boot," to name a few. Then there's the tragic story of Jerry Harvey, himself. I really liked how Cassavetes used segments of a radio interview of Harvey in the parts of the film that zoomed in closely on his life, which becomes more and more haunting because from the beginning we know how it's going to end. The whole thing is quite a saga and makes for some truly compelling stuff. The dvd set includes a mini-representation of an issue of Z Magazine and is a terrific added bonus. I quite like the writings and stylings of critic F.X. Feeney, who was a featured contributor in this film as well as serving as one of its producers. There's also an additional disc of extras. This dvd set is a true treasure indeed.
Reviewed by R T 7 / 10

You probably have to be from Los Angeles

You probably have to be from Los Angeles to best appreciate this doco about a forerunner of movie cable TV channels that started out there. Apparently, it ran an eclectic mix of arthouse and cult movies, often organized into mini "film festivals" from the mid-1970s until the mid to late 1980s and fended off HBO and Showtime for that long. This film by Cassavetes' daughter Xan focuses on Z Channel programmer Jerry Harvey whose efforts led to wide acclaim but who was a tortured soul who eventually killed his wife and himself. So, half the movie focuses on Z Channel and its appeal (with talking heads such as Robert Altman, James Woods, and Theresa Russell singing its praises) and the other half focuses on Harvey and his problems (with an ex-wife, former girlfriend and many Z Channel colleagues chiming in). There are a heap of movie clips (a surprising number of which feature nudity, making films like Andrei Rublev seem a lot more sexy than they really are) and this keeps things interesting for the first half. But as the movie gets darker and longer, the heavier concentration of interview footage becomes a bit tiresome. Still, it's a fascinating slice of our cultural history.
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