DRY WOOD (director/writer: Les Blank; cinematographer: Les Blank; editor: Maureen Gosling; music: Bois Sec Ardoin/Canray Fontenot; Runtime: 37; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Les Blank; Janus Films; 1973)
“Can’t go wrong seeing this earthy film.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Documentarian Les Blank (“Burden of Dreams“/”A Poem is a Naked Person”/”Spend It All”) and his unobtrusive camera visit the French-speaking black Creoles in their rural southern Louisiana Delta communities. It’s a rich slice of life film that captures the normal routines of the Creoles. It shows them preparing for Mardi Gras, goofing around, butchering hogs for a community gumbo, tending to their livestock and it focuses on two great old-time musicians: singer/accordionist Antoine “Bois Sec” Ardoin and fiddler Canray Fontenot. The featured music is called Zydeco–a hybrid of blues, folk and Tex-Mex music.

Can’t go wrong seeing this earthy film.

REVIEWED ON 8/2/2015 GRADE: B

Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ