The black-and-white buddy comedy “Tallywacker” opens on Aleister, its star, a young man with brittle bone disease sitting in a wheelchair in downtown Northampton. Locals will recognize the actor as Jeremy Dubs, a city councilor representing Ward 4. As he waits for a ride from his bandmate, his guitar case hangs off his chair, upright.
While his halo of hair is tousled by the wind, a prim woman in pearl earrings strides past, then regards the musician with pity. She taps him on the shoulder and tells him that he is an angel, then kneels beside him and begins to pray about “true strength and suffering.”
“Actually, can you help me pray for something?” he interrupts.
What he says next sends her running.
Cue the music
It’s a bold beginning to an edgy movie, one that grapples with how society responds to disability by ratcheting up the absurdity until the audience laughs — a release that makes room for reflection. By centering the story on Aleister, who identifies as disabled but also wants to be a rock star, “Tallywacker” encourages the audience to be better humans. Because when he does get mildly famous, he’s the one who ends up being kind of a jerk, which he cops to in an aptly titled song that he writes and performs.
“Tallywacker” was digitally released on Nov. 18, 2025. Dubs, writer/director Brendan Boogie and actor Chris Goodwin, who plays Aleister’s bandmate Emmett, co-produced the film, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Independent Film Festival Boston in 2024.
The trio also penned 12 original songs, some of which Dubs and Goodwin will perform at Rock Valley Studio in Easthampton on Saturday, Jan. 17 as part of a tour for “Tallywacker,” the band. This will be the fifth stop on the band’s multi-state tour, and a return to where part of the movie was filmed.
On Jan. 17 at 8 p.m., in a line-up including the quietcore band Whales, which hails from Ludlow, and Easthampton-based singer/songwriter Brandee Simone, Dubs and Goodwin will perform songs from the movie, as well as a few songs from other “fake movie bands,” said Boogie.
Behind the scenes
While Boogie, who is Boston-bred but Los Angeles-based, didn’t go to film school, he said that being a practicing mental health therapist has been an exercise in empathy that he’s applied to his craft.
“Understanding human behavior — that’s writing,” he said. “And trying to create a safe environment for people to be vulnerable — that’s directing.”
While Dubs and Goodwin hadn’t met before “Tallywacker,” they quickly got in sync as a band, becoming a duo before stepping on set. Their camaraderie is evident from the first scene, when Emmett pulls up in the van and Aleister recalls what he said to the pious woman — and they burst into laughter.
“The chemistry was there indeed,” said Dubs.
Goodwin, who has toured as a musician, as well as written and directed his own films, said he prefers being part of a band or cast because he is naturally shy. Boogie knew he had a knack for comedy, though, and in the movie, Goodwin’s Emmett offers exquisitely timed comic relief. Boogie said that he and Goodwin “had a scale of how much ‘George Costanza’ Emmett was going to be,” referring to the neurotic character from the highly-acclaimed sitcom “Seinfeld.”
“With the first scene, you’re either with us, or against us,” Boogie said. “Humor is a great weapon to look at how ridiculous humans are.”
Origin story
Boogie was inspired to write “Tallywacker” after Dubs posted on social media, daring any of his director friends to make a film starring a disabled character played by a disabled person. While Dubs had seen characters with disabilities, he noticed that often “people were feeling bad for them,” and he wanted a more nuanced portrayal.
“There’s a lot of joy in disabled people’s lives,” said Dubs, a lifelong musician who sang backup vocals for the Pixies in 2013.
When Boogie sat down with him in his hometown of Northampton, Dubs was generous with his lived experience of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), also known as brittle bone disease, a connective tissue disorder characterized by a susceptibility to bone fractures.
But the director was most interested in why Dubs originally wanted to be in a band. Given the “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” culture around live music, Boogie wondered if Dubs worried about being objectified. Dubs said honestly that he had — but he didn’t care.
“That’s when the character was like — boom,” said Boogie.
Not only does Aleister not care if he’s exploited, he also wants to experience being sexualized. To Boogie, going all-in allowed the movie to be about more than what meets the eye.
“I think the balance we wanted is that we don’t pretend the disability doesn’t exist, but it’s not every minute of every day that that’s his [identity],” he said.
On location
“Tallywacker” was filmed in Aleister’s orbit, which is actually Dubs’s world. Some of the locations included 10 Forward, a now-closed live music venue in Greenfield; Marigold Theater, Rock Valley Studios and Sonelab in Easthampton; and Anchor House of Artists, WRSI the River, Familiars Coffee & Tea, and Dubs’s actual apartment in Northampton.
As a rock-and-roll movie, said Boogie, “we were kind of blessed with how many cool places there were to film.”
Dubs, who begins his second term as city councilor in Northampton this month, has been involved in local government since he joined the Northampton Disability Commission in 2019 and served as the chair for four years. Well-known in the local music scene, he said he made all of the connections with the location sites ahead of time, so Boogie and his small crew of six could essentially walk in and begin shooting. Boogie said that in his notes about the film, longtime WRSI the River DJ Joan Holliday is referred to as “Jeremy’s radio friend.” Holliday played herself in the film.
While filming at Easthampton recording studio Sonelab, the crew even ran across a local official, who told Boogie to let her know if he needed anything.
“A lot of time indie filmmaking is about relationships, and people doing you favors that you could never really pay back,” explained Boogie, who has worked on multiple films. “In a place like Northampton or Easthampton, people seem very excited to help you create art.”
In terms of casting background actors, Boogie said, “Filmmaking is a community act, so we basically leaned on the community.” Because of Dubs’s advocacy work, several of the extras were disabled folks. “But that wasn’t by design,” Boogie continued. “If you look around, there are disabled people everywhere.”
Bondage of self
Ultimately, the movie is about empathy. By the end of the film, Aleister has alienated everyone who loves him and finally has an epiphany through the aforementioned song.
But the epiphany isn’t just for Aleister — it’s for the audience. Dubs said that, like Aleister, he’s experienced people wanting to pray over him or speak to him like he’s a child. Once, while out to dinner with family, “there was a waitress talking to me like a little kid and I just immediately started responding back to her like a little kid,” he said. “My family knew I was playing with her. But for the most part, I do have empathy because they don’t necessarily know any better.”
In his work as a therapist, Boogie said he has seen his share of well-meaning misfires. “People think that [folks with disabilities] are these angels, but that’s their way of coping with something they’re uncomfortable with.”
“People are trying, in their mind, to do the good thing,” he added.
“I’ve learned over time to be very patient,” said Dubs. “But once I moved to Northampton, I realized that if I wasn’t more vocal about my experience, I wasn’t going to be a happy person. This led to being a city councilor and speaking up for disability rights” — and that fateful post on social media.
“Tallywacker” is available to rent/own on major digital HD internet, DVD, cable and satellite platforms, including DISH Network, Sling TV, Apple TV, YouTube Movies and Amazon. Tallywacker the band will perform on Saturday, Jan. 17 at Rock Valley Studio in Easthampton at 8 p.m.
For more information on the film or upcoming show, visit Tallywacker’s Instagram or Facebook page.
Melissa Karen Sances can be reached at melissaksances@gmail.com.