Stuff You Gotta Watch: Speaking in Code
Speaking in Code is a classic tale. Boy meets girl. They get married. Girl and boy decide to make a documentary about the techno scene of the early 2000s. Boy spends most of his time trying to make techno happen in Boston while girl jets back and forth to Germany and Barcelona to film artists on Kompakt and BPitch Control. Boy and girl grow apart. They max out their credit cards. Boy becomes a subject in the documentary more than a producer. Everyone suffers burnout. And they all live ambiguously ever after.
Your mileage with Speaking in Code will vary depending on your interest in the relationship between filmmaker Amy Grill and David Day. The film is a slice of life in the purest sense, with zero history and little cultural context for the music, which is to say the whiteness is strong with this one. The film’s strengths lie in its glimpses into the communal living of the Wighnomy Brothers, the gear infatuation of Ableton Live creator Monolake, and journalist Philip Sherburne’s family history. Speaking in Code is a Polaroid of minimal techno, a time capsule of the years before festival EDM, and a caution sign for following your DIY dreams.
Review by Dave Maher. Check out the full archive of the Stuff You Gotta Watch column.