“The Last Repair Shop,” directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers, and produced by Proudfoot, Bowers, Jeremy Lambert, and Josh Rosenberg, is one of the best short documentaries that I’ve ever seen — and I’ve seen a lot.
On the surface, or rather on the first peel of this lovely onion, it’s about craftspeople who maintain over 80,000 student instruments. That’s what we are told when it opens inside a nondescript warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles.
The fact of the matter is sobering. There’s a fast-dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople who step into the massive responsibility of repairing and maintaining the students’ instruments. It’s one of the largest remaining workshops in America of its kind.
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In “The Last Repair,” we are fortunate enough to be introduced to four unforgettable human beings whose broken-and-repaired lives have been dedicated to bringing so much more than music to the schoolchildren of the recording capital of the world.
For young people, it’s clear that creating music is filled with tender, delicate, and magical moments. Often, it’s one of the first times that kids feel they have some control in their lives, and often they only want to improve and be able to perform the way they are meant to.
Instruments are delicate. So, the question is floated: what actually happens when one of those treasured instruments breaks or needs repair? The how of it is answered in this winning doc short, but it’s the why of it that marks this as an important work.
Throughout this film, which, if you have a beating heart and a kind soul, you will feel the stories deeply, you begin to understand that dealing with an ailing piece of musical equipment comes with a sense of anxiety and grief. Playing instruments teaches the students, and the listener, more than just a series of meticulously arranged notes. Something happens with the sound vibration that connects with our own. It helps us to see and feel things inside of ourselves, and it can aid not just in coming-of-age, but it sustains us as we grow.
Los Angeles is one of the last cities in America that provides freely repaired musical instruments to schoolchildren, and it has done so since 1959.
They first introduce a student and then the artisan who specializes in their instrument, and everything is so balanced and never rushed. Dana specializes in strings, Paty in brass, Duane is woodwinds, and Steve is piano.
Proudfoot is the kind of storyteller that gets my creative gears moving. And all his films, including the Oscar-winning “The Queen of Basketball,” tell the truth in a simple and effective manner. There’s grace in how the stories are woven together. The setup is simple. No fancy camera moves or editing styles. He lets the emotion of truth guide the way. The interviews are not emotional by design, but they are by the sheer nature of baring the soul. There’s room to breathe, to soak it all in. Bowers’ experience as a musician, I am confident, has great influence on the pacing.
America, in its short-sighted way, has continued to systematically remove many of the art and music programs that were previously provided in public schools. Here, Proudfoot and Bowers give the platform to those who know the value of education and believe in the tenacity of youth. To repair instruments comes from years of training. And you can tell from their concentration that what they are doing truly matters to them.
Music is a part of everyone’s life. Simple, and when you begin a relationship with music, it never goes away. I promise you this: you will feel alive after watching “The Last Repair Shop.”
“THE LAST REPAIR SHOP”
*** Nominee – Best Short Documentary – Critics Choice Documentary Awards
*** Nominee – Best Score – Critics Choice Documentary Awards
*** Cinema Eye Honors Shorts List
*** DOC NYC Short List: Shorts
*** Director and composer Kris Bowers received the Sheila Johnson Vanguard Award at the 2023 Middleburg Film Festival
*** World Premiere at Telluride Film Festival 2023
*** On Variety’s Current Predictions of Possible Nominees for Best Documentary Short Film
Distributors: Searchlight Pictures and L.A. Times Studios (Debuts November 8 on latimes.com and YouTube)
Directors: Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
