Film

Party Dream

• Documentary

PARTY DREAM is the story of Gil Mantera's Party Dream - the craziest live band you've never seen. We follow Ultimate Donny and Gil Mantera's life as unlikely step-brothers, growing up in hard-scrabble Youngstown, Ohio. The early years of the band are filled with music, touring, ridiculous fashion and no small amount of booze. In short, it's all about an up-and-coming band willing to do anything (and we mean anything) to entertain. Footage from their insane live shows provides a vicarious thrill, helping to illuminate the phrase, "You had to be there." The band hits its peak during the Bloodsongs era (their most popular album), which would be financed by Patrick Carney, drummer for world-famous rock band The Black Keys. As Carney says in the film, "A few of their shows were some of the funniest things I've ever seen happen in person. It was all pretty genius." At the height of their success, we begin to see cracks in the band's foundation, a result of relentless touring done for little money and sparse acclaim. Finally, we witness the "crash and burn" phase, in which they release their final album and quickly run out of gas, both in financial and familial terms. We learn of two brothers driven in opposite directions by the hard reality of the music business. One, a mysterious figure. The other, a gregarious frontman, searching for a new life in Youngstown. Could there ever be a chance at a reunion? Or is it too late to grasp the Party Dream?