AllMovie

If Josh Dolgin isn't one of the most culturally and creatively eclectic musicians at work today, it's hard to imagine who has him beat. Dolgin is a gay Jewish French-Canadian who plays piano and accordion, dabbles in rap, and plays music that fuses funk and hip-hop with klezmer, a form of Jewish traditional music. Known as "Socalled" (for a while he used the stage name "Heavy J," then changed it to "So-called Heavy J" before shortening it to Socalled), Dolgin has recorded a hip-hop interpretation of a traditional Jewish Seder (with guest appearances from both Matisyahu and Killah Priest) and appeared on a cruise for Jewish music fans, sailing down the Dnieper River as he performed with a live klezmer ensemble. Filmmaker Garry Beitel profiles the life and music of this one-of-a-kind talent in the documentary The "Socalled" Movie, in which Dolgin talks about his art and inspiration as well as showing off some of his own experiments in filmmaking. The "Socalled" Movie was an official selection at the 2010 Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival.