Strange Parallel

Strange Parallel (1998)

Strange Parallel is a documentary/short film revolving around the American singer/songwriter Elliott Smith. The film features interviews with Elliott himself as well as fans, friends and other acquaintances of his (including Gus Van Sant, Larry Crane, and the members of Quasi). The film also includes snippets of Elliott Smith performing as well as footage of him recording an unreleased song, "Brand New Game". The film sometimes moves out of reality, with acted-out, metaphorical sequences that involve Elliott considering purchasing a mechanical hand (a "robot hand" ) to improve his music.

Date of release
1998-10-15
TMDB
6.4 / 10 (6)
Runtime
30m
Genres
Documentary, Music, Fantasy
Director
Steve Hanft

Casting

Interesting facts

Strange Parallel is a documentary short film revolving around the American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. The film was directed by Steve Hanft and released on October 15, 1998, and features interviews with Elliott himself as well as fans, friends and other acquaintances of his.

Background

Strange Parallel includes interviews with Elliott Smith himself, as well as fans, friends and other acquaintances, including Gus Van Sant, Larry Crane and the members of Quasi. The film also includes snippets of Elliott Smith performing, as well as footage of him recording an unreleased song, "Brand New Game".

The film takes place mostly in New York City and Portland, Oregon. The title is a direct quote from an interview of one of Elliott's acquaintances (a bartender) who said he felt a "strange parallel" between himself and Elliott when he met him.

The film was used for promotion only and is not available for purchase.

Director Steve Hanft says this about the film:

In 1998, I was hired to make a film for the reclusive rocker Elliott Smith. Very excited, I flew to Portland, Oregon, where he was staying and met with him to figure it out before we filmed. At the meeting he explained, in a very quiet voice, with a slight smile, that he didn't want it to be a straight-up documentary. So I suggested he write down some of his dreams.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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