Shot on location in rural Southwestern Louisiana, Zydeco combines cinema verite style footage, interviews and musical performance to present a colorful, joyful portrait of the zydeco musicians in their culture. Featuring Dolon Carriere, Armand Ardoin, and Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin. A film by Nicholas R. Spitzer. Color, 57 minutes.
USA
USA
🚨 YOUNG GENO DELAFOSE ALERT 🚨
i was surprised to see a zydeco doc on criterion, but doubly so to see it open with establishing shots of the liberty theater in eunice, louisiana, an nrhp-listed former movie palace with which i am intimately familiar. stories like this one must, by definition, usually take place in my neck of the woods, but i still don’t expect it to end up being this close to home. knowing my family and their connection to cajun and zydeco music, i wouldn’t be surprised to learn that some of them were in the audience at that première screening. the documentary itself is pretty good, more appealing to me for its subject matter than its execution,…
cooool! i kept thinking about ms tina. wild how colorism worked. a comb in the window?!!? i also liked that it clearly shows how music is engineering (they made a washboard and used an electric accordian) is culture (to adjust to french colonialism and the road to emancipation) is life force ! the accents were cool but hard to understand language is so cool ! and also teaches how necessary documenting is to extending culture for younger ppl. i hope ppl of that lineage still have these spaces minus colorism
This made me miss my grandpa deeply.
A simple documentary that straightforwardly captures the culture and music of an endangered community in Louisiana. This is one of those projects where, however plain the approach, the subject matter is so captivating and distinct that it still feels magical. Zydeco misses the visual character of Les Blank but it has that feel, of sharing the human warmth of art and culture. What a beautiful thing for film to give these windows into worlds unknown.
(Not gonna lie though, that Mardi Gras section was like something out of a horror movie. I know I just watched the Texas Chain Saw Massacre so that’s fresh in my mind but this was really not too dissimilar, just with chickens in the place of teens)
A beautiful snapshot of a culture and language that is critically endangered in 21st century Louisiana. To say that this film deserves more views would be an understatement! Watched during my Kanopy documentary binge.
Valuable footage of a great American culture. When I traveled through Louisiana, I was amazed to see vibrant and bustling dance halls with live zydeco, half the radio stations playing zydeco, and families speaking French to each other. Hope this music and culture can continue to be preserved.
Great film about great people and the very unique culture of Zydeco music. Glad this exists, and excellent music choices throughout the film.
Really can’t go wrong with this subject matter— there is perhaps no subculture in America more fascinating than the Cajun/Creole community. Love that they just let the songs ride in this, I was vibing to those accordions and washboards, I can’t lie!
One of the coolest documentaries ever!! I learned about Zydeco in college in an ethnomusicology class and it was one of my favorite classes I’ve taken. I took a particular familiarity and liking to Zydeco. “Les haricots ne sont pas salés.” It feels good to listen to, the lives beating within it. We befriend the families and people in this doc alongside the film. I just watched this at a sleepover at Mark’s house & fell asleep during some parts so I need to rewatch some bits. At times it felt reverential to watch; those cultures you hope never get erased by the abscesses of America’s populous and greedy “growth,” but with the music comes the struggle for life, opportunity, survival; there’s no use in wanting it or not, it just is in this world and we get to witness it, to care for and about it.
folkways forever
Beautiful music. Deep historical dive into Appaloosa county and the cultural history of the creole and Cajun peoples. Surprisingly, the interviews with the locals are just as riveting as the Zydeco.
i’m now even more sure that every music genre and every culture would benefit from more accordion.
