SXSW Film Reviews: 'Los Wild Ones'

Los Wild Ones

What Reb Kennedy has created in Wild Records – a Los Angeles-based indie record label that specializes in Fifties rockabilly music created by a talented pool of young, mostly Mexican musicians – is easier to hear than to see, he says. That may have been the case before director Salomon and her crew came along, spending five months with Kennedy and his charges to create this feature-length doc. Kennedy, an Irishman, is as dedicated to nurturing young talent as he is to making vinyl recordings of their music. He has resisted the disposable culture of digital music, trying instead to create something lasting that ties listener to musician and musician to craft. It's those same connections that he works to foster with and among his Wild artists, a diverse and dynamic group that, together with Kennedy and his wife, behave like a close-knit family, the nuances of which Salomon has captured beautifully. In the end, Los Wild Ones is at its best a story about families – the ones we're born into, and the ones we create for ourselves – that we hope will prosper and stay together forever.