Under the Stars: Tiny Dots

Date: November 5, 2015

By Katie

A few hosts of Under the Stars, Trisha, Jordyn and myself, were about to attend an advanced screening of Tiny Dots, a documentary about La Dispute. The advanced screenings took place in seven cities on Nov. 1, 2015. The closest to us happened to be in New York City in the Studio at Webster Hall. 

The film was much longer and better than I anticipated. Including live footage from multiple shows, from both their first few gigs to their current sold out venues. The documentary captures the artistic value of La Dispute wholeheartedly. Any La Dispute fan would appreciate the cinematography, the use of lyrics to transition between scenes worked really well over nature scenes.

Fans were also greatly included in the film, which were probably my favorite scenes. They discussed what certain songs meant to them, how they related to the lyrics, and a few showed off their La Dispute inspired tattoos. Bassist, Adam Vass, talked about how it was strange to see their band logo tattooed on people at first. He actually described it as seeing the logo becoming a literal part of their fans.

There were a few guest appearances made by family members, producers, and a few members of Touche Amore and Pianos Become the Teeth had camera time to talk about La Dispute. The film maintained a consistency of keeping viewers engaged with graphics, song clips, as well as a few videos of the making of Rooms of the House.

Probably the most emotional aspect of the documentary was seeing the band members comment on the leaving of founding member and guitarist, Kevin Whittemore. Footage from Whittemore's last show in 2014 was shown, displaying an on-stage group hug before an encore performance.
Since I have never seen La Dispute live, the performances shown in the film had me itching to see them as soon as possible. Hearing vocalist, Jordan Dreyer, sing the beginning of Andria made my heart ache the most. As I said earlier, any La Dispute fan would appreciate Tiny Dots.
Tiny Dots was directed by Niall Coffey, who also directed La Dispute's music video for Woman (Reading). 

 

If you're interested in seeing the documentary you can check it out on Vimeo. The documentary became available for streaming on Monday, Nov. 2. The physical copies, available on DVD, can be found in stores Friday, Dec. 4.

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Please note that the opinions expressed in this review are the opinions of the writer alone. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WSOU, Seton Hall University, nor any of its affiliates.

Posted in: Under the Stars, WSOU Exclusive