‘Circuitry’ Plugs Into the Underground World of Raves

With all their talk of positive energy, peaceful coexistence and drugs, you’d think the blissed-out dervishes in the documentary “Better Living Through Circuitry” had just drifted in from the ‘60s. But the throbbing, wordless sound they’re whirling to isn’t the Beatles. It isn’t even Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Youth cultures come and go, and it probably is a given that each generation thinks their’s is the only one that matters. So you’ll excuse this baby boomer his air of condescension as he circles the phenomenon known as raving. What, after all, could be so special about dancing till you drop?

Apparently plenty, judging by all the folks who find their way to those underground tribal gatherings. Some of the people director Jon Reiss interviews in “Better Living” drive up to 10 hours to attend them, trekking out to the countryside or to spooky abandoned warehouses. And they do it week in and week out.

What motivates them? What reward at journey’s end could possibly make it all worth while? The movie seems to have been designed to answer such questions for viewers not yet familiar with the rave scene. Though they doubtless will be entertained, the movie probably plays better to audiences who don’t need to ask questions to begin with.

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This is one of a small wave of new films--”Human Traffic” and the upcoming “Groove” are others--that focus on this influential subculture that often is viewed by outsiders with suspicion. Raves, after all, to the consternation of partisans, usually attract mainstream attention only in connection with drugs.

“Better Living” takes us deeper, possibly deeper than you’ll want to go unless you’re already in love with electronic dance music and other elements of the rave phenomenon.

Filled with interviews with people whose lives intersect with rave culture--deejays, graphic artists, promoters and folks who just like to dance--the movie also is pretty much wall-to-wall music and dancing.

A movie about raves could never fully capture the sense of exhilaration that attends these events, filled as they are with movement, spectacle and the frisson of human contact. So unless you attend it with a reservoir of easily accessible memories to supply the missing thrills, “Better Living,” at one hour and 25 minutes, might get a tad wearying.

Until then, though, what Reiss shows us is intriguing--yes, and thrilling. This is true in part because of the energy of the raves themselves and the behind-the-scenes look at how the music is created and how it continues to evolve along with the technology.

The movie is a good introduction to the work of artists like Moby, Crystal Method, Electric Skychurch and DJ Spooky as well as a couple of dozen other musicians, many of whom also are interviewed.

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Although there is no formal connection between this documentary and “Modulations,” a 1998 film about electronic music, they may be viewed as companion pieces. In much the same way that that movie traced the music’s development, this one lays out the whys and hows of raves, at which people seem to get high by dancing.

The movie doesn’t try to hide that quite a few revelers reach elevated states with the aid of pharmaceuticals, but it also makes it clear that there is more to raves than drugs.

One reason why the film is so intriguing is that some of the interview subjects Reiss and his producers have chosen are eloquent, thoughtful adherents of the subculture.

When one deejay discusses the excitement of mixing music and sampling “live” before an audience, he sounds less like a pop performer than a French lit. major discussing the application of existentialist principles to daily life. Later he says he learned to love music because of the record collection he inherited from his father, who died when he was 3.

“To me, sampling is like ancestor worship,” he says, and though he’s discussing his own life, the statement also seems to encapsulate a philosophical rationale for styles of music and performance--perhaps even of being--that to many of us probably seemed like mere thievery.

Several of those interviewed speak candidly about the use of drugs during raves, particularly ecstasy. At one point Reiss interviews paramedics who are on hand at a rave in case of emergencies.

Much electronic music comes from recording and manipulating everyday sounds. When one artist interviewed speaks of “the malleability of reality,” we see how the talk of drug-induced altered states of consciousness connects in a fundamental way with the music itself.

Such talk provides interesting fodder for thought, but Reiss interviews enough people who speak as if by rote of how they’re drawn to raves because of the “family atmosphere,” good times and easy acceptance of diversity that the audience is never able to forget for long that the events are really nothing but big parties.

As musician Moby says about raves at one point, the best thing about them is “the naive sense of celebration.” Plenty of that is on display in the movie.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: contains advocacy of illegal drug use.

‘Better Living Through Circuitry’

Crystal Method: Itself

Electric Skychurch: Itself

Superstar DJ Keoki: Himself

Roni Size: Himself

Genesis P-Orridge: Himself

Frankie Bones: Himself

DJ Spooky: Himself

Wolfgang Flur: Himself

Moby: Himself

A Seventh Art presentation of a Cleopatra Records production. Director Jon Reiss. Writers Jon Reiss, Stuart Swezey, Brian McNelis. Producer Brian McNelis and Stuart Swezey. Executive producer Brian Perera. Cinematographers Jon Reiss, Steven Janas, Byron Shah, Michael Bartowski, Lee Abbot, Joe Plonsky, John Preibe. Editor Erix Zimmerman. Music Supervisor Cary Berger. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.

Exclusively at the Nuart, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West Los Angeles, (310) 478-6379, and Edwards University, 4245 Campus Drive, Irvine, (949) 854-8811.