19 July 2012

Feature: Music Documentaries

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Music documentaries are a genre unto their own - sometimes they give you a glimpse behind the scenes of your favourite band, and sometimes they're about someone you've never heeard about who become your favourite band.

Following great acclaim at Sundance and festivals around the world, Searching For Sugar Man comes to UK cinemas this month and definitely falls into the former category. You've probably never heard of Sixto Rodriguez - he was meant to be the new Bob Dylan, but he quickly disappeared back into obscurity. Yet not in South Africa - where he went on to be bigger Elvis. All this success went completely unknown to Rodriguez himself, and Searching For Sugar Man is the remarkable story of two South African fans trying to find out what happened to their hero.

To mark its release, let's have a look down some of the best music docs of all time.

Anvil! The Story Of Anvil
An opening of Heavy Metal icons such Slash, Lemmy and Lars Ulrich singing the praises of a band you've never heard of makes you think it's all just a Spinal Tap style spoof. But no, after never quite hitting the big time in the early 80s, Canadian Metal band Anvil have still been plugging away despite the lack of success - at the beginning of the film frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow is having to make a living delivering school dinners in Toronto! It's a heart-warming underdog tale of never giving up your dream.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil - Official Trailer Published via LongTail.tv

Dig!
It doesn't matter if you've never heard of The Dandy Warhols (who you might remember from a Vodafone advert a few years back) or The Brian Jonestown Massacre - the rivalry between them is a fascinating story of delusion and self-destruction. The small modicum of success the Warhols receive turns them into insufferable prima-donnas, and Massacre's frontman Anton Newcombe seems to sabotage every opportunity his band gets.

Dig! (trailer) Published via LongTail.tv

Gimme Shelter
The film of the Rolling Stones infamous 1969 Altamont show is not only a great music doc but also an important historical document. The free show was intended to be the next Woodstock, but when a riot broken out and one of Hells Angles providing security stabbed a fan to death, it symbolised the death of the 60s peace and love dream.

Gimme Shelter movie trailer Published via LongTail.tv

Some Kind Of Monster
Intended to be a fluffy behind the scenes piece on the making of Metallica's new album, Some Kind Of Monster turned into a sort of real life Spinal Tap when the band almost split up and ended up in group therapy. It starts off hilarious and ends up genuinely uplifting.

Metallica-some kind of monster (trailer) Published via LongTail.tv

Don't Look Back
Warts-and-all, fly-on-the-wall docs following around musicians are now ten a penny - they take up about half off ITV2's schedule. But in 1967 this Cinéma vérité style film following Bob Dylan's UK tour was revolutionary. The opening scene, with Dylan holding big cue cards for the lyrics to Subterranean Homesick Blues has also become iconic in its own right.

Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back - Clip Published via LongTail.tv

Marley
Last King Of Scotland director Kevin MacDonald won an Oscar for One Day In September, his documentary about the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, and was selected to produce the definitive record of the life of reggae megastar Bob Marley. The epic two-and-a-half-hour running time leaves no stone unturned.

Official Trailer: Marley Published via LongTail.tv

The Devil And Daniel Johnson
Cult singer-songwriter Daniel Johnson was beloved by Kurt Cobain, and has battled with schizophrenia and manic depression throughout his life. This sensitive documentary tells his fascinating story and is riveting viewing.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston - older trailer Published via LongTail.tv

Kurt And Courtney
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994 send shockwaves around the music world. Veteran documentary maker Nick Broomfield set out to investigate the claims that Cobain's wife Courtney Love was involved in his death, and found himself in a legal minefeild and a cobweb of deception.

Kurt and Courtney Published via LongTail.tv

Beats, Rhymes And Life: The Travels OF A Tribe Called Quest
Hip-hop is a musical genre that really rather poorly represented in terms of good documentaries, but this biography of alternative rap legends A Tribe Called Quest goes a long way to rectifying this. Directed by Michael Rapaport (best known for playing Phoebe's brother on Friends), the film tells the long complicated story of the band's history.

Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (2011) - Official Trailer [HD] Published via LongTail.tv

Searching For Sugar Man
In the early 1970s, Detroit singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez was tipped to be the new Bob Dylan - but both his albums bombed and he went back to working in construction. Yet somehow - and no one really knows how - the record got bootlegged to South Africa and became the soundtrack to the anti-Apartheid movement, outselling the Rolling Stones and Elvis. The film follows two South African fans on the trail of their idol (who rumour has it committed suicide on stage) and their story is one so incredible you couldn't make it up.

Searching for Sugar Man - Official UK Trailer Published via LongTail.tv

Searching For Sugar Man is in cinemas 26 July.
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18 July 2012

Electrick Children Review

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★★★☆☆


Religion in all it’s broad and baffling scope has long had a relationship with cinema. From the countless films that focus on the varying lives lived under the umbrella of belief right through to the acceptance speeches at a Hollywood award show, God in one shape or form is never far from the silver screen. However it is the faiths that are cut off in one way or another from modern society that fascinate most. We’ll have to wait for Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master for a thinly-veiled look at Scientology but the Amish and Plymouth Brethren communities have starred in leading roles over the years. We can add to that list Mormonism as Rebecca Thomas’ Electrick Children attempts to take the Indie scene to an altogether holier place.

         We are deep in Utah, a Mormon commune playing host to fundamentalist ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ lead by evangelical parents Gay (Cynthia Watros) and Paul (looking suspiciously like Billy Zane). Our gateway into this cut-off world is Rachel (Julia Garner), a 15 year old daughter who we meet during a ritual interview on her birthday. Not to be perturbed by Billy Zane’s warnings about its evil potential in the wrong hands, her curious mind leads her to investigate the purpose of the mystical apparatus recording her answers.  The keeper of the cassette recorder is Will (Liam Aiken), a fellow brother only slightly older than Rachel whose strict obedience does little to deter Rachel’s interest. Before long she’s breaking in to discover the true potential of this sound-making contraption, coming across a mysterious blue cassette and soon cavorting around the barn with only the sounds of Hanging on the Telephone for company as she presses the exotic, angelic sounds to her face.

         This innocent audio frolic comes with serious consequences. Rachel soon falls pregnant and, despite the groups’ accusations and punishment thrust upon Will, is convinced she has received the gift of life through the Lord himself, appearing in the form of a Blondie cover and impregnating the modern day Virgin Mary. Sentenced to a speedy marriage she comes to conclude that the role of a mother cannot be resolved without a father.

         It is this epiphany that, once struck, doesn’t escape Rachel who decides to embark on a pilgrimage to find the only possible father of her immaculately conceived child – the singer on that cassette.  She flees, silently assisted by her mother and leaving the commune lifestyle in the dust of her truck. Unknown to her, she has a passenger –Will who’s sleep in the back of the truck she disrupted. They drive until they stop and when they stop it’s the bright lights of Las Vegas, or the lights of the Lord as bible quoting Rachel’s narration would have it.

         And so our holy heroes arrive in the city of sin where vices are celebrated and temptation looms large. The temptation for director Thomas is to fall back on a riotous fish out of water romp through the shiniest place on Earth. Fortunately it’s one that she manages to largely avoid with understandable concessions being made.

God fearing Rachel and Will are introduced to today’s youth and like a fearful Daily Mail journalist initially it doesn’t go well, “Clyde is perhaps the spawn of Satan.” records Rachel on her biblical cassette journal. These are the slacker teens of America’s generation Y and they serve as the duos guides to a life outside of the commune. These initially one dimensional characters are all swears (“say fuckers”), drugs (“do you want to get loaded?”) and parties but despite their alien ways Rachel’s conviction that their band may be behind that  tape forces her to stay. This allows us more time with these characters as we gain a sense of their routine and, without being incredibly fleshed-out, their roles become far less ‘by-numbers’ duuuuuudes. Will whose looks – a cross between a young Rolling Stone and a country bumpkin – lend themselves well to a convincing metamorphosis from Mormon farmhand to skateboarding, pill popping modern teen and there’s credit too for Rory Culkin giving a stock character into a human touch.

The cinematography is equally impressive in both the commune and city environments with the contrast between the two highlighted without jarring.

And that’s what’s puzzling about this film. There is little to criticise in the details and yet it’s hard to guess what it’s trying to say. The religious element adds something to the bulging US indie scene but it has the air of a film with a message but if there is one it doesn’t so much as get lost in among the storylines and subplots as fail to materialise in the first place. The original frame of Immaculate Conception is too muddled to support the weight of everything else. There are Biblical parallels that feel slightly shoehorned in as Culkin’s Clyde becomes a Joseph like figure and at times the various skating and street walk scenes can look at best like a music video and at worse like postcards from a programme called How I Spent My Slacker Summer. It’s a flawed but impressive debut from Thomas whose star turn was to give the first of what will surely be many a lead role to Julia Garner. The childlike naivety and innocence she displays come off as incredibly watchable and endearing and portrayed with great subtlety by the young American. In her hands Rachel’s adjustment to her new environment is convincing and restrained and forces us to engage with this imperfect but worthwhile feature.

Matthew Walsh

Rating:15
UK Release Date: 13th July 2012
Directed by: Rebecca Thomas
Cast: Julia Garner, Rory Culkin, Liam Aiken, Billy Zane

ELECTRICK CHILDREN Official UK Trailer Published via LongTail.tv


Would You Like to win a limited edition signed poster for Electrick Children? Enter Here.
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Frightfest 13th Preview:Your Cordingly Invited To [REC]Genesis This September

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One of the highlights of this year’s Film4 Frightfest in London, at which it will premiere on Friday, 24th August 2012, the long-awaited and highly anticipated third instalment of the planned four-part saga has finally arrived and, boy, was it worth the wait. Your cordingly invited to witness [Rec] 3 Genesis.

As the families and friends of Koldo and Clara gather outside the church in the bright Spanish sunshine just prior to the happy couple’s wedding, it seems that nothing could possibly cast a shadow on such a beautiful and joyous occasion. But when some of the guests start behaving oddly during the reception, it becomes apparent that all is not well. In no time at all, the party descends into a hellish scene of utter carnage as partygoers begin feeding on each other with a crazed bloodlust. Amidst the ensuing chaos, Koldo and Clara become separated as those still in control of their human minds and bodies seek whatever refuge they can find. Although apart, the newlyweds know deep in their hearts that each is still alive and set out on a desperate search for each other not fully realising that what should have been the happiest day of their lives 

Paco Plaza, co-writer and co-director (with Jaume Belaguero) of the first two movies, goes it alone for this outing and breathes new life into the proceedings by bravely and totally unexpectedly giving the series a whole new spin. Closer in tone to “Shaun Of The Dead”, “Army Of Darkness” and “Braindead” that to its more sombre predecessors, it also introduces some truly iconic images, not least of which is the one of the movie’s bloodied heroine dressed in her revealingly torn bridal gown and wielding a chainsaw.

So expect some crazy humour with your blood, gore, zombies and this is one gift bag at the end of the wedding you wont want to be around to collect. [Rec]3 Genesis will be going directly to DVD/ Blu-Ray after it's appearance at Frightfest the 13th August 24th, it will be released September 3rd. The film stars Letitia Dolera (Man Push Cart; The Other Side Of The Bed), Diego Martin (I Want You), Claire Baschet (Delicacy) and Ismael Martinez (Carmen; Talk To Her).

[Rec] Genesis - Official UK Trailer Published via LongTail.tv


Pre-order / Buy :[Rec] Genesis On DVD/ On Blu-ray

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