Not Available On DVD: Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story

While we await the release of experimental gay auteur Todd Haynes' new picture, the nonlinear Bob Dylan bio I'm Not There, let's acquaint (or reacquaint) ourselves with the movie that first made his name in the underground film scene. Before he took on Dylan, before he took on David Bowie (in the fictionalized, homoeroticized Velvet Goldmine), he took on a very different sort of musical icon: anorectic soft-rock chanteuse Karen Carpenter.

Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story isn't your typical, after-school-special treatment of eating disorders. It's a biting, satirical look at how the destructive pressures of fame and family conspired to help Karen Carpenter starve herself to death. It's compact, cleverly directed, and oh yeah, it's acted out entirely by Barbie dolls.

Richard Carpenter famously blocked any official release of the film due to the unauthorized use of his music, but it looks like a samizdat DVD-R is still on sale here. And of course there's always Google Video. Enjoy!