I Am Not A Hipster

Written and Directed by Destin Cretton.

"What’s a hipster?"

Here’s my quick history with the word. A couple of years ago I googled the word, and then I read the page on Wikipedia, like when you want to know/understand a word you go to the dictionary. A couple of years later I kind of get it. Kind of. Like every new trend in society, you know, sometimes like fashion trends, in this case mostly in the younger generation, are hard to be figured it out, or to be described. To me it is a bunch of people that dresses all the same, among other stuff. In other words, I don’t really get it and I also feel like it is utterly pointless. Ok, I guess I’m getting a bit off topic which is concerning to the film.

Let me talk a little bit about I Am Not A Hipster – isn’t it just great when you don’t know anything about the movie, haven’t seen any footage and then when you’re finally watching it you are presented with this really interesting and surprisingly touching film?

This is the story of a very talented musician coping with the loss of his dead mother. This film isn’t really about hipsters, but I shouldn't probably say this because I don't really know about the whole thing, but what I do know is that the film is something personal and universal and you slowly forget about the word as you care more and more about the people.

What you are compelled by in this film is the group of people presented to us. They’re alive, they’re genuine and frank. They’re authentic. They’re sober characters with flaws. Through them we are presented with certain aspects or ideas of being creative, the meaning of doing what one likes and the consequent exterior interpretations, that many times feel foreigner but other times revealing. Sometimes you don’t have to be an artist, or let’s just say someone who likes to create stuff; artist can be a strong word, to feel the need to reset, or a start over. Like you lost track, you lost the pure scent of your feelings. That’s what the protagonist of this story is going through I guess. There’s nothing Hipster about it.

In this story there’s also the idea of the artist itself. So what’s that? What makes an artist and what kind of person is entitled to call something art? It is the true artist someone that cares? Is it the meaning with which one is creating that matters above all? I'm sure everyone rolls their eyes to these tiring and cliched questions. Here’s a short observation from day to day, nothing pretentious nothing demeaning. If you ever heard Anna Calvi singing, more than being an absolute treat, you enter in a world. It’s her world, her words. Her music and her words are deep and complex. They are evocative, they are emotional. Her lyrics are so much more than what she’s saying. When I heard Anna Calvi for days and days, suddenly the popular songs on the radio sounded so trivial and superficial; when a Taylor Swift song played there’s that feel of vomiting in your mouth a bit with such an unexceptional material. Canines is like Anna Calvi. A craftsman works his material as he pleases, as the talent rides along. These two bands scream uniqueness and hearing them is a cluster of emotions and something that touches you deeply. It’s like an event on its own. Is that what an artist does?

The hipster director certainly feels like he’s dominating his art too. His film is an odd to just that, to all of that. From creating something within your interior conflicts which may include hundred of things, from society issues to personal, with which will reciprocate in the society - in you and in me. Like this film touched me and can touch you. That takes craftsmanship. 

"Treat yourself".