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Kai Blackwood, frontman of the band The Tokyo Death Squad, look
back on a life of missed opportunities. To change his fate, he enters a
contest to win a chance to ... sell his soul to the devil in exchange for
the fame and success he believes he deserves. A camerateam follows him
every step along his way to the ritual in which the soul is actually sold,
from buying all the ingedients necessary (in some sort of weird, over-lit
occult supermarket) to mapping out a contract for the deal with the devil
with his lawyer (really) as well as his spiritual advisors (who tell him
among other things that the devil will not grant him the ability to
fly like Superman). Kai is accompanied all the time by an actual
occultist, Jymie Darling, who claims an almost-deal with the devil has
pretty much wrecked her life, and now she wants to help Kai to not make
the same mistakes she has made. Interestingly, in her own way, Jymie seems
remarkably sane, and way more stable and rational than Kai. The ritual:
Kai almost freaks out, but objectively speaking, nothing much does happen,
at least not for the passive spectator. One year later: Since the
ritual, Kai's life has taken a turn for the worse, is in shambles, an
absolute mess. Satan, if there even is one, has done nothing for him. Proof
that Satan doesn't exist, or gives a ratfart about contractual agreements? Maybe,
but the epilogue informs us that after the last interview with Kai was
conducted, he has found (underground) fame as a filmmaker. Proof for
Satan's existance? I wouldn't count on it ... A fun
documentary about many things, not only contracts with Satan. It's also
about the greed and gullibility of man, the weird "parallel"
world of occultism, the effect of Hollywood on fameseekers, and so on and
so forth. Now this movie could have easily been destroyed a disrespectful
"know-it-all"-style semi-comedic approach that so many
documentaries seem to choose these days, but director David Gaz - who
doesn't seem to believe in the occult one bit - instead shows remarkable
compassion to his cast and is always willing to lend an open ear while
treating his subject in a light-footed way without ever becoming moronic
in the Michael Moore sort-of-way. Pretty entertaining, actually.
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