Mixing It Up

Chicagoist just loves receiving mix tapes – or mix CDs now, *sigh* – and analyzing the meaning behind every agonizing choice. As the recent Tony Award winner Avenue Q notes, “A mix tape./ He made a mix tape./ He was thinking of me,/ Which shows he cares!/ Sometimes when someone/ Has a crush on you/ They'll make you a mix tape/ To give you a clue.” And when making the tapes, we definitely abide by the rules of one Rob Gordon: “You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch.”

A new (really) independent film, Mix Tape, chronicles the exploits of those of us who waste our time compiling music for the ones we love. With its Chicago setting, a great soundtrack (featuring Sebadoh and The Mountain Goats), and the tagline “a bittersweet comedy about love, and music, and no love, and music,” this DV movie sounds more than a little like High Fidelity. But that’s okay, because any movie that can remind us of that John Cusack classic has to be a good thing. It plays tonight at 8:45 in the Music Movies series the Gene Siskel Film Center with director Jefferson Root, an employee of the theatre, in attendance.