Grassroots
Grassroots
dir. Stephen Gyllenhaal
USA, 2012 - 98
When Phil Campbell loses his job, his friend Grant Cogswell persuades him to help him win a seat on the Seattle City Council. Grant has his own set of image problems: he likes to dress up as a polar bear and he's currently an unemployed music critic. He urges downtrodden hipsters and idealists to stand up for what they believe in, to take back their city government. He becomes a mono-maniacal man of the people, rallying an unlikely posse of misfits, slackers, and square pegs to his seemingly hopeless battle.
Director's statement: "It's a story about a socially inept music critic. Just smart enough, just arrogant enough, just idealistic enough, and just unemployed enough to think he can change the world. It's crazy. It's true. It could only happen in Seattle".
A bittersweet story about the Seattle City Council elections in 2001, based on the book 'Zioncheck for President'.
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