Play it again: Colma

There's nothing like a movie premiere, and never more so than in the case of Colma: The Musical. That night was like the first concert by a great band we had all just discovered. Plus, they were funny!

Yet the second time I saw the movie, last Sunday on its second weekend of commercial release, some things were even better. The songs, for one. I've grown to know them on CD, and I strongly disagree with one critic who said they haven't aged as well as the film. In fact, the one scene that maybe didn't have to be as long as it is, set to the somber ballad "Deadwalking," kept me glued to my seat waiting for the harmonies in the last verse. The acting looked better than the first time, too. The movie's also been edited down for commercial release, and it feels sharper. I also came into the theater knowing a lot more about the production, having interviewed director Richard Wong and writer/composer H.P. Mendoza. The single shot that covers most of a scene at a house party is astonishing, especially if you keep your eye on a development that takes place near the end of it. On the whole, the movie seemed a little darker, though still funny. It's a great story about leaving your hometown, the place that seems like the deadest place in the world when you're 18, and for these characters, really is.