One of the documentaries newly available on Hulu is Dig!, a little-seen but much-discussed and award-winning 2004 film about the...rivalry? Friendship? Mutually assured destruction? At any rate, the relationship between two late-'90s bands: The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Notice how they both have quasi-playful, ironic, punny, wordplay-based, fundamentally annoying names? It's not a coincidence.

Two unlikable bands, two unlikable guys, one very likable movie, after the jump...

 

There's something about the inclusion of these two bands — which make completely different music and have completely different personalities and nevertheless have something elemental in common with their "we object to the evil empire of the music business" poses (and I do mean poses) — that makes the film much richer than any "band on tour" handheld-camera travelogue.

Courtney Taylor of the Dandy Warhols and Anton Newcombe of Brian Jonestown, who become the leads in this odd tale, are both fundamentally unlikable, but the movie is excellent, and a great example of how a documentary can be interesting even if it seems to miss its own point.

Director Ondi Timoner presents Taylor as the more grounded guy and Newcombe as the self-destructive nut, as if they're a study in contrasts. But they're much more interesting in parallel: this is partly a tale about exactly how impossible to work with you can be before it will stop you from having a career. As seen in the film, they're both selfish, they're both accustomed to attributing their successes to their own genius and their setbacks to outside forces, and they're both petty to the core.

But there is drug use, and then there is drug use. There is acting up, and then there is acting up. There is drama, and then there is biting the members of your own band. On stage.

Movies like this never get much exposure in their theatrical releases, but they're perfect for online viewing. Dig! doesn't need a big screen or the perfect viewing environment; it just needs to be watched.