Director Nathanial Hörnblowér, aka MCA, came up with a brilliant conceit — buy 50 video cameras from an unnamed national chain, give them out to fans at a Beastie Boys concert, and then collect the results and return the cameras. The resulting footage (plus that from five or so "pro" cameras) was then thrown into a computer blender of effects and manipulation. The result is breathtaking, pulse-pounding and overwhelming — Awesome is a visual barrage that comes closer to replicating the concert-going experience than any movie ever. There are many high points — a drawn-out attempt to get backstage, a concession worker's spontaneous air guitar solo, a note of unexpected calm in the midst of an elevator ride. But most exciting is the clear intellectual curiosity at the heart of a grand, ultimately successful, cinematic experiment. (DW)

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