The common advice given to filmmakers working on their first project is to “write what you know.” For the team of Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky, they also decided to work with their friends, and the result was the ’90s indie rock cult classic, “Half-Cocked.” The film has now been given a fresh restoration, and we’re excited to exclusively debut the trailer today.
Featuring a slew of indie rock bands — Polvo, Grifters, Freakwater, Versus, Slant 6, Unwound, Helium, Sleepyhead, Crain, and Ruby Falls — the story follows a group of friends who grab a bunch of gear and hit the road in a band they call Truckstop (played by the great Rodan). Here’s the synopsis:
Bored with her job selling movie tickets in Louisville, Tara swipes her wannabe rockstar brother’s van and equipment and hits the road with a handful of friends, forming a makeshift band in the process. But their impromptu tour hits roadblocks of infighting and monotony in this wry, beautifully monochromatic look at the unromantic life of musicians on the road.
“We knew all of the folks in ‘Half-Cocked’ from touring to Louisville and also bringing them to New York for shows,” Galinsky told Glide Magazine in 2007 about the genesis of the film. “I had a bunch of old film in my fridge, which was impetus for the project. We never ended up using the film because the story came together and it all felt like it would work. We also realized that the film would work on black-and-white and the fridge film was color. I think we wanted it to feel like some of the band photos I was doing at the time.”
“Half-Cocked” screens at the Quad Cinema in New York City on Tuesday, February 13th at 7 PM, and will be followed by Hawley and Galinsky’s next film, “Radiation,” at 9 PM. The directors will be in attendance for the screenings.
