Jesse Vile’s 2012 festival favorite gets a home video release on December 3 in the UK and December 18 in the States. A warm, funny, and inspirational-without-being-remotely-cloying music documentary, Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet chronicles the prodigious talent, almost-death, and renewed life of the titular metal guitar prodigy who was on the verge of stardom when he was diagnosed at age 20 with ALS (aka Lou Gehrig’s disease) in the mid-1990s. Refusing to succumb to an illness that robs him of the ability to move or speak, and that claims most sufferers within a few years, Becker has not just stayed alive but kept writing music, thanks in large part to an extended family of dedicated caregivers, a striking number of whom are beautiful ex-girlfriends.
