In 1987, two post-grad roommates started recording the outlandishly vitriolic and dysfunctional arguments that occurred between their alcoholic, fifty-something neighbors (one gay, the other seemingly an oppressive homophobe) – fights which routinely ended with one repeatedly taunting the other, “Shut up, little man!” This documentary about how those private fights became a cult phenomenon fosters interesting discussion around exploitation, art, obsession, voyeurism, and, especially, the bizarrely fascinating dynamic between this demented Bert and Ernie at the heart of it all. It also sheds fascinating light on the mail-based tape-trading culture of the 80s and 90s that served as a sort of proto-YouTube. It’s easy to condemn the recorders as shameless, self-justifying parasites, but there’s such an insatiable desire on their part to learn more about the neighbors that, eventually, you can’t help but regard them as anything other than obsessive Peeping Toms.
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