No shortage of talented musicians have appeared before Les Blank’s camera, their porch-strum music often laid over savory shots of local cuisine. Like the wind-blown grass Blank always finds time to include, the films undulate between revelry and reflection, while intangible rhythms of life are contoured by a musicality that exists not only in melody, but also in editing and observation. The richest take place in Cajun country Louisiana and rural Texas, where, between home cooking and the push-pull sounds of an accordion, Blank’s subjects unassumingly philosophize about the best ways to get through life and all its thorns. If […]