
“There is no innovation and creativity without failure." — Brené Brown
“He who has never failed somewhere, that man cannot be great.” — Herman Melville
“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail” — Edwin Land
You get the point. If you’ve ever launched a creative project, chances are, at some point, you’ve experienced failure.
Sometimes, an early failure can lead directly to a project’s success. Other times, it can result in its abandonment. On rare occasions, the latter can become the former. Projects once discarded can be renewed and repurposed to rise, Phoenix-like, from the ashes.
Chris Wilcha’s excellent new film, Flipside, is one such example. Co-executive produced by Jim and released in association with Infinite Films, it is a meditative ode to Wilcha’s creative failures that doubles as their triumphant redemption.
As he told Jim during their recent conversation, Wilcha, an award-winning filmmaker who has worked with the Coen Brothers and Judd Apatow, has abandoned many documentary projects over his career, covering subjects ranging from Deadwood co-creator David Milch to photographer Herman Leonard. Notionally framed around Wilcha’s efforts to revive Flipside Records, a dying record store he once worked at in his youth, Flipside gathers these disparate threads of abandoned projects and weaves them into a cohesive narrative that IndieWire has called Wilcha’s “masterpiece.”
Currently boasting a 96% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, Flipside has been theatrically released to a rapturous reception, being described as a “hidden gem,” “poignant,” and “mesmerizing." Just last week, the renowned critic Richard Brody described the film as “a treasure trove of music and memory” in The New Yorker.
If you live in the United States, you’re in luck. Flipside is screening in select theaters across the country in June and July. For dates, locations, and tickets, visit this website.
Music is truly the universal language. We Homo sapiens are hard-wired to enjoy music and move naturally to the beat. A world without music, is simply unimaginable!
Great film. I saw it twice and enjoyed it even more the second time -- there are so many layers and characters and cool moments 💚 🥃