Hot Pepper (1973)
Thrilling musical portrait of Zydeco King Clifton Chenier, who combines the pulsating rhythms of Cajun dance music and black R&B with African overtones, belting out his irresistible music in the sweaty juke joints of South Louisiana.
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Don't Believe the Hype
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Documentary about noted Zydeco artist Clifton Chenier (1925-1987). Based out of New Orleans, Chenier was the self-crowned "King" of Zydeco (a New Orleans musical hybrid containing elements of blues, folk and Tex-Mex music). Included are interviews with Chenier himself as well as relatives and friends, and scenic shots of the New Orleans area Chenier calls home, all of which is edited together by Les Blank.Together with "Dry Wood", which Les Blank also released in 1973, you have a well-rounded portrait of Zydeco and New Orleans. This one focuses much more on the music than the culture, with plenty of footage of Chenier in action. Considering how few people know what Zydeco is, or perhaps have even heard of it, this is a crucially important document for music history.
Les Blank's documentary about Clifton Chenier, is a seemingly casual effort. It consists of following "The King of Zydeco" as he plays in clubs, cleans his back yard and jams with his cousin on a back porch: ordinary moments with no more obvious commentary than occasional titles translating the Creole and Cajun lyrics into English in a font that suggests it was made of twigs. The camera watches him, but it's up to other people to talk, until he addresses the camera directly at the 40-minute mark.It's a documentary that calls more attention to its techniques, to its purity, than to its subject. Nonetheless, it is of obvious interest, both as a documentary of a particular time and place, and for the zydeco music that its subjects play in a fashion that seems as off-handed as the film.