CONAN O’BRIEN CAN’T STOP – SXSW ’11 REVIEW + DIRECTOR Q&A

This sounds fantastic.  I hope I have a chance to see it with an audience myself.

So I finally got to see this.  Not with much of an audience though.  Other than my friend and me, there were probably only about 4 or 5 people in the theater.

This was a lot of fun.  I'm actually not very good with the standard documentary (talking heads, powerpoint-ish graphic interludes, etc), but I seem to do ok with straight up fly-on-the-wall approach to them.

I actually didn't think there was any particular attempt at a narrative in the film.  Regardless, it was well-paced and funny enough to make the short runtime fly by.  It really just takes you chronologically through select moments of the tour.  I'd say it's simply a portrait of the film's title.  Conan really can't stop.  He curses his obligation to do the meet and greets that come with performing on tour.  His people tell him that he doesn't have to do it, but he does it anyway.  He just has to.

It's quite gutsy of him to let this footage come out.  It could so easily be taken the wrong way.  I keep wondering what the family members of the Coquettes will think if they ever see the film.  Feelings could be hurt.  As Renn's review says, Conan is kind of a dick.  But what we're seeing are the moments between very close people we aren't really meant to see.  Anyone who has the ability to empathize with the pressures of famous creative-folk will understand Conan's frustrations.  They may be problems of privilege, but they only served to humanize Conan O'Brien to me even more.