Tarfumes.com - Human Highway

The pieces of this movie don't hang together well. It's like there were two different films and someone just mashed them together with no regard for whether or not they would fit. On one side we have the somewhat didactic Devo pieces, with Booji Boy in a role similar to the chorus in a Greek play; he's like a court jester, who gets away with speaking ugly truths because he's too silly to take seriously.

On the other side we have Neil Young's surreal pseudo-story. Despite some interesting snippets of dialog, no particular thread is developed far enough to inspire any real interest in the story, and no character is developed enough to make us care what happens to them. Which, in a way, is probably Young's point - the tiny events of our little lives just aren't as interesting as we think they are, and they don't matter. But that doesn't make for engaging storytelling.

But, between Devo's solid personification of doom and Young's dreamlike depiction of everyday life, there is one amazing performance which, in my opinion, redeems the movie. It's their joint rendition of "Hey Hey My My." This lengthy, frenzied, and apparently spontaneous studio session is the only honest moment in the entire movie. All the campiness, tongue-in-cheek lecturing, and coyness that candy-coats the film's depiction of our shallow, ugly civilization is put aside for a straightforward primal scream. The speeches and the dreamy videos are nice, but the wailing fury of this number is a catharsis of disgust, contempt, and disillusionment. Young and Devo work together as if in a trance, and no one seems to want to break the spell. It's genuine and moving.