Render – Spanning Time with Ani DiFranco (DVD-Video)

 

Picture: C      Sound: B-     Extras: B     Program: A

 

 

Ani DiFranco is an anomaly.  She plays folk music, runs her own label free of conglomerate interference and doesn't play the corporate rock game.  For this, she has been relegated to the fringe of popular culture.  Don't shed any tears for her, though.  Her bold stance combined with intense live performances and both personal and political lyrics have earned her a fiercely loyal international following.  She inspires her fans and friends to think, create, and take action.  Her fans will follow her to the ends of the earth, and they will buy Render, her new DVD, regardless of what any critic thinks.

 

Fortunately, Render impresses even the non-Ani-fanatic.  Render centers around performances from her 2000-2001 tour.  Rather than a straight-up concert film or an exercise on the tedium of touring, this DVD focuses on the positive.  Ani and her ensemble are never caught half-assing a song.  They throw their whole being into it, and find new ways to keep the touring experience fresh and fun, while taking joy in each other's company.  Along the way, Render sidetracks to discuss Righteous Babe, her self-started record label and its attempts to preserve historic buildings in Ani's hometown of Buffalo, NY.

 

Time is also given to her friends at the Southern Center for Legal Rights, an association set up to give legal aid to the poor and disadvantaged (who, it must be said, are often black) in the South.  This links with Ani speaking passionately against the death penalty.  While one may not agree with her views, she must certainly be given credit for using the First Amendment in the way it was intended to be.  On the musical front, we see Ani onstage, backstage, at her office, in the studio, all over the place.  The visuals, especially onstage, are sometimes wobbly, but I suspect that's the result of volunteer camera work.  Besides, it looks D.I.Y., and if it was really wretched, they could've easily edited around it.

 

The full frame image is varied and average at best, with either low-definition video or stylized use of images.  This may work for some, as it did me, but it is an acquired taste.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has Pro Logic type surrounds, which are not strong, but I did enjoy the overall sound just the same.  Highlights of the main program include a member of Ani's opening act, Bitch & Animal, getting yelled at by a cop in South Carolina over an act of indecent exposure (apparently, guys can go topless in the state, but girls can't...even as part of an artistic exhibition).  Also, the band celebrates Halloween in an unusual way.  Moreover, I'm impressed by DiFranco's energy and sense of humor.  When one of her bandmates talks about Vassar College being "a hotbed of lesbian activism", Ani makes a joke about all the available poontang like some Quiet Riot roadie.  Who says feminists don't laugh?

 

 

-   Michael J. Farmer