Stuff You Gotta Watch: Patrick
Just like its subject, Patrick is a documentary short unconcerned with typical formats. Rather than offering a straightforward biography with talking heads, filmmaker Luke Fowler focuses his 16mm camera on the spaces in San Francisco inhabited by producer Patrick Cowley—innovator of the Hi-NRG electronic disco sound—until his death from AIDS in 1982.
Musician Maurice Tani, who wrote the liner notes for Cowley’s recent Mechanical Fantasy Box collection, provides the film’s tender narration. Beginning with their time together in the Electronic Music Lab at the City College of San Francisco, he describes how Cowley was dissatisfied with the music heard in bathhouses by mainstream artists and sought to replace it with “environmental” sounds inspired by Brian Eno. This led to soundtrack work for gay porn films, where his ambient synths and pumping tempos fit snugly.

When Cowley brought his 160 BPM tracks to DJs at disco clubs, they left an immediate impact on singer Sylvester, leading to their collaboration on a series of crossover hits. The film ends by lingering on photos of the two groundbreaking artists, alongside newspaper clippings reporting on Cowley’s untimely passing at age 32. Powered by the menergy of his pulsating music, it’s a beautiful portrait.
Review by Jesse Locke. Check out the full archive of the Stuff You Gotta Watch column.