In 2003 director/producer/writer Ondi Timoner posed the following question to a then-theoretical audience: would anyone ever possibly be interested in the travails of two similarly heady and ambitious (and pretty fresh) psych-influenced ‘90s bands meeting in some strange middlespace of warm recognition and mutual respect before taking deeply dark and contested divergent journeys?

The answer is ‘YES’!.’ Dig! is a documentary about the muddled relationship between alternative radio darlings The Dandy Wharhols and the more prolific/scattered Brian Jonestown Massacre. The movie reveals an excellent set of contrasts, with one band seemingly on a collision course with stardom (but at what creative cost?) and the other pulling deeper into violence and obscurity as if change the subject. Us three found Dig! to be enlightening and depressing - though for different reasons than when we first saw it - and that alone necessitates this reevaluation.

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