Who are DINK? How did they start, how did they make their mark?
Directed by Jorge Delarosa, this documentary about the Kent, Ohio band is easily accessible to fans of the band and those curious about them. As a non-knowledgeable human on this band, the documentary gives a solid introduction to them from their own telling of their stories with the occasional coaxing from director Delarosa. Here, the documentary aims at being informative while being entertaining and this is done with interesting interviews, some archival footage (less than one would expect, but then again, the 1990s were not exactly an era of everything being caught on video). The way the film is shot, and pieces together works well, and it feels like it works with the style of the band.
Speaking of which, the members make apparitions on screen where they talk about their own history, their own music, but also their corner of the music industry, how dealing with a major music label while being more independent spirits than businessmen worked out for them, and so much more. Each member is given time to speak and what looks to be the freedom to talk about whatever they wanted in any way they so chose. The group of them does quite well on camera telling stories, giving background, generally informing the viewer.
Visually, this documentary is different from the usual music docs out there. The archival footage looks grainy and old as expected, but the interviews themselves are layered on top of other images, some of them photos or pieces of art that are static and some on videos that may or may not connect to what is being discussed. This does cause a visual chaos that oddly works for the film here. For those with a need for visual input, this can be amazing. For those who need less input, this will be hell. In the case of this viewer, it works quite well. The editing works with these images and the chaos quite well, creating a more artful chaos for the those into it.
Overall, Gangrene the DINK Documentary is an interesting watch whether one is familiar with the band or not. There is plenty of information in here and the way it’s presented works really well for the subject at hand. The Blu-ray release of this that was reviewed looks and sounds great with a slew of extras which will appeal mostly to fans of the band but were still fun to watch for someone with no prior knowledge of the band.