Z Channel:A Magnificent Obsession

One of the few documentaries where the assembled talking heads did not tire me out. We learn everything there is to know about this long lost and fondly remembered pioneer cable television channel. We learn it from a score of film makers and people connected to the core of its foundation. The Z channel, under the leadership of Jerry Harvey, brought art style film into the homes of 100,000 people in the Los Angeles area in the 1980's. Films that rarely bothered the mainstream where the type Harvey sought and programmed for the channel. The many odes of gratitude from movie directors and actors for Jerry and the channel in helping to exose their works up from obscurity...to give them a 2nd life, is prevalent. Watching this documentary, we get to see many clips from the films shown on Z. I for one, now have a yearning to see such movies previously unknown to me as Overlord and Images and perhaps, Turkish Delight. As I began this review, I want to express how much I enjoyed listening to the comments from Robert Altman, James Woods, Alexander Payne and Henry Jaglom to name just a few. And I shan't be remiss in not mentioning the other side of this story..that of Jerry Harvey. His programming determination is what gave Z its life, which in turn brought inspiration and culture to a grateful audience. Along with that vision, Harvey also harbored a destructive demon that brings this story to a sad ending. But for a tme, before the tragedy, this documentary shows how wonderful the Z channel was and how so far far away in the past it all seems. I think the closest relative to the vision of the Z channel that we have today is the Criterion Collection.    8/11/12