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Full Moon Lightnin' A Film By John C. Gardiner
Starring: Floyd Lee, Joel Polluck, Nella Zaccaria 
Blues is wantin' somethin' you ain't got...wishin' for somethin', lovin' somethin' that's gone...needing somethin' that you don't have. Yeah, that's the Blues." - Floyd Lee In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, Americans were all searching for something to reaffirm their faith in humanity. The world came together as one to condone the inhumane act against so many innocent people, and the American people, specifically, tried to rebuild themselves stronger than before. Filmmaker John C. Gardiner was living in New York City, and, not long after that infamous day, came across a pair of men singing and playing the Blues on the streets of New York. Gardiner stood transfixed on Floyd Lee and Joel Poluck for hours as they seemed to become the voice of the aching metropolis. That chance meeting led to a relationship between the filmmaker and the musicians that would develop into the amazing film, Full Moon Lightnin'. Full Moon Lightnin' revolves around the journeys that Lee and Poluck are taking with their lives, both alone and together. It's not just their musical journey, either. Both men are in search of something more in their personal lives that will, in Floyd Lee's case, fill a large hole in his past, and in the case of Poluck, prevent the hole in his heart from getting larger. Full Moon Lightnin' takes place over the course of about four years, and runs the entire spectrum of emotions during that journey. Floyd Lee is living proof that some people are born with the Blues inside of them. Lee left his home in Mississippi as a ten-year-old child, alone and with very little knowledge of the mother that gave him up as a baby. He went to Chicago, then on to New York, and never returned to the Mississippi hill country of his youth. Lee's journey throughout Full Moon Lightnin' centers around his return to the land of his birth, and the search for the family that he never fully knew was out there, but always felt existed. Poluck is a Canadian-born Blues guitarist, and frequent collaborator with Floyd Lee. His guitar work impressed Lee when they first met, and they began a working relationship that spawned into a great friendship between two generations. That relationship likely would not have formed had it not been for the Blues. Joel Poluck takes a journey into his art throughout Full Moon Lightnin', as he has his world turned upside down, and turns his pain into music. Without giving too much of the story away, Full Moon Lightnin' chronicles the journey that Lee and Poluck share, both in Mississippi searching for Floyd Lee's past, and in the New York City recording studio where Poluck and Lee work on documenting Poluck's emotions though music. It's a story that goes beyond the music, focusing more on relationships. The music is fantastic, Blues in it's purest form, and possessing raw emotion; but the music really serves as a vehicle to take you along this journey, as the viewer travels from the big city to some of the places where the Blues was born. Stops along the way include the Delta Recording Studios, which are housed in the former WROX radio studios, Po' Monkey's Juke Joint, one of the last true jukes left in existence, and Memphis' Beale Street. Deleted scenes on the DVD's bonus features also visit notable places on the Blues landscape, including The King Biscuit Radio Program hosted by Sonny Payne and Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi. It also should be noted that Full Moon Lightnin' features an ample amount of face time with the late Sam Carr, legendary Blues drummer who passed away in September of 2009. Carr drums for the Floyd Lee band as they tour the south, and also spends time conversing with Lee and getting him caught up on some of the changes that the south has gone through during Lee's 60-plus year absence. The images throughot this film are wonderfully captured, and I think a special compliment should be paid to director Marcus Smith, whose attention to detail allows for beautiful landscapes and lasting images. More importantly, though, Smith's cinemetography successfully documents the emotions expressed by Full Moon Lightnin's subjects. You can see Poluck choke back tears, and see Lee release them. You can witness the change in Lee from frail Bluesman to spry youngster as he sets his feet on Mississippi soil. You get an understanding of how important the recording of Doctors, Devils, and Drugs (the album being worked on throughout the film) is to Poluck, to successfully document what he's going through over the course of the film. John C. Gardiner and company do a fantastic job with Full Moon Lightnin', allowing for the people on the screen to tell the story. It creates a connection between viewer and subject that allows you to invest yourself in the lives of the people on screen. I highly suggest anyone add Full Moon Lightnin' to their collection. At the very least, watch this film. I can tell you with all honesty that it is now one of my all-time favorite films. Click Here For the Official Website For Full Moon Lightnin' Click Here To Purchase Full Moon Lightnin' Use The Widget Below To Hear Clips and Purchase Songs From Doctors, Devils & Drugs, From the Film Full Moon Lightnin'
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