Glory to the Warriors of Darkon!! A joyous gem of a documentary detailing the lives, in and out of character, of an all consuming role-playing game. Who knew that each weekend, the parks of rural Baltimore were transformed into Tolkein-esque battlefields of good and evil? Who knew that the kid serving your latte at Starbucks was actually an Orc or an Elf or a Paladin? And (this is the real shocker) who knew just how well-adjusted these people are. They take their game-playing seriously, but everyone knows it is just a game. And everyone is just having a fucking blast of a good time. And, like, really changing their lives for the better because of their fantasy world. While the audience chuckles during the opening reel (’cause styrophome swords and plastic skull helmets are funny!) it soon hits you — why is this any less cool than a group that gets together to play basketball? As my grandmother used to say: go do anything, so long as you get some fresh air. (Watch the trailer. Will be in theaters soon.)
Yes! Darkon! This was the best thing I saw at SxSW last spring. Is this actually getting a theatrical release now? Seems like one of those docs that is audience friendly enough to make some cheese and get a few critical kudos to boot.
Hail Darkon!
Now’s a good time to gloat that the 1st AC on Body/Antibody was the co-DP of Darkon.