WHAT NOT TO DOC: “Finlay is able to find the extraordinary in a seemingly ordinary place.”
August 30th, 2011 | Published in Reviews
What (not) to doc – Basil Tsiokos
Jeanie Finlay captures a different sort of caretaker in her portrait of Tom Butchart, the owner of a smalltown UK record shop. While larger chain stores have been decimated by digital music, Tom’s been able to keep Sound It Out Records afloat, largely due to his personal touch with customers and his encyclopedic knowledge of music in all genres, even those he claims to hate. While the economic pressures brought on by technological advancements are occasionally touched upon, Finlay smartly doesn’t dwell on the subject too much – her focus instead is on the day-to-day goings on in the store, Tom and his employees, and a handful of their customers – some pleasingly eccentric, others heartfelt in their acknowledgement of the store’s meaning in their lives.
Like them, Finlay is able to find the extraordinary in a seemingly ordinary place.