• Tue, Mar 19, 2024
ODDITIES

Cinemascope: Films about Music

Jan 30, 04:35pm

In between critiquing (and trashing) all sorts of music, we also find time to watch a few films here and there. Below are reviews of five films about music that we managed to watch. 

 

 

LAST DAYS (2005) - 8
Directed by Gus van Sant

 

 

Oh, Gus van Sant, how you appeal to our insecure pretentions and make us feel all fancy and elegant.  Slow as can be, Last Days is an artsy, fictional interpretation of, well, the last days of Kurt Cobain before he blew his head off. It follows Blake, the protagonist, as he undertakes an anomalous journey submerged in melancholy and despair. So Blake cooks himself some instant noodles before belting out an acoustic ballad on the guitar. Eventually though (SPOILER ALERT), he kills himself.

The film follows a minimalist narrative, with almost no spoken dialogue, and the resulting slow pace captures, in a very understated manner, the despondency and loneliness of Blake, an acclaimed musician, as he struggles with inner demons that are never quite revealed to us. Michael Pitt puts in an exceptional shift as the tortured rockstar, even writing and performing a couple of the songs, which happen to be very stripped down Seattle-in-the-90s-esque sounding, in this must-watch movie.

 

 

HIGH FIDELITY (2000) - 6
Directed by Stephen Frears

 

OK, so it’s a borderline chick-flick for men, but we watch all kinds of shit (especially chick-flicks) to broaden our horizons. Plus there’s lots of fourth wall-breaking, which makes the film hip, you see. High Fidelity, based on Nick Hornby’s novel by the same name, is the story of Rob, a dysfunctional 30-something perpetually stuck in adolescence, as he relives his past relationship failures and comes to terms with his own distorted perception of himself and all around him. So far, no music. Well, Rob owns a small records store, and he has a proclivity toward creating top five lists of records for different moods and reasons. In fact, the film is littered with references to, and conversations about, cult (and not so much) rock acts, and the protagonist and the two buffoons working for him happen to be pop culture elitists with an affinity towards laughable condescension at inferior music tastes.

Also, it features that odious little singing twunt, Jack Black. Any film with him in it is a de facto rock film (usually a shitty one, but this one’s not so bad, and even he’s not all that annoying for once).

 

 

MEETING PEOPLE IS EASY (1998) - 8
Directed by Grant Gee

 

There’s this glorious myth that the people (or blokes, since they’re British) in Radiohead are a bunch of miserable sods, a notion that the band refutes not infrequently. Meeting People Is Easy though, serves only to further perpetuate the belief. This 1998 ‘rockumentary’ documents the disastrous breakdown in communication the band suffered from during their world tour supporting 1996’s phenomenally successful rock masterpiece, O.K. Computer. It reinstates everyone’s suspicion that Thom Yorke is the grumpiest Brit around, but also brings to the fore an underlying disillusionment with the music ‘business’ that the band went through, and their problems with fame following the unprecedented reception to O.K. Computer. There’s plenty to watch out for, for fans especially, as the band is captured rehearsing or indulging in backstage chatter, or performing at giant venues, and one can voyeuristically travel with Radiohead, even as their own collective gloom envelopes the atmosphere of Meeting People Is Easy.

The film showcases a bleak portrayal of the band – maybe even bleaker than they actually are – but the period it documents may just be the prologue to a phase in the band’s career that (arguably) redefined mainstream music henceforth. The despair that haunted them post-O.K. Computer has often been attributed as the catalyst for the mad-scientist experimentation that ensued at the turn of the millennium; they threw the form book out of the window, going on to create several works of sprawling genius, the first of which, Kid A, was spawned as a direct consequence of the band’s state of mind at the time.

(A word of advice though – you may just feel dirty as you glance through the window into the band’s personal business during a testing time.)

 

 

AMADEUS (1984) - 9
Directed by Milos Forman

 

 

In tune with generational inadequacies, our ADHD usually forbids us from watching films that are over two-and-a-half hours long. But we stayed hooked to Amadeus, a very fictionalized account of Mozart and his supposed arch-enemy, Antonio Salieri, despite its daunting length. Mozart is portrayed as the first real rock star of music, pissing off nobility and noted musicians at whim, sleeping around, getting wasted, and generally indulging in all kinds of debauchery. And writing unnaturally beautiful music, of course. A golden genius, basically.

Amadeus focuses on Salieri’s obsession with Mozart’s wizardry, and his debilitating, one-way rivalry with him, which eventually destroys them both: One through ill-health, and the other through hubris that follows him around as a result of his crippling jealousy. Outstanding performances by the two chief players drive this charismatic extravaganza forward consistently, and the emotional depth and pathos exhibited by F Murray Abraham as Salieri is one of those extraordinary once-in-a-lifetime performances. In fact, if we were less bulging-muscles-alpha-male-macho-men, we may have shed a tear or two.

N.B. Salieri’s envy towards Mozart in the film is pure fabrication, adapted from the play with the same name, and the movie is a fictionalized account of their relationship; a fact that’s commonly ignored during nerdy bar-speak about classical musicians.

 

 

HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (2001) - 5 
Directed by John Cameron Mitchell

 

 

This one’s a musical that follows the tragic (at times melodramatic) story of a transsexual singer in a band trying to make it. Her name’s Hedwig (Head-Wig, get it? She wears glamorous wigs, in case you still didn’t) and she’s trying to come to terms with the growing success of her one-time sort-of lover/sort-of-protégé, Tommy Gnosis, who’s basically stolen all the songs she wrote and become a mainstream pop icon. She, on the other hand, has to make do with ranting about her emotional troubles in dive bars with an able backing band (the Angry Inch) supporting her.

The movie grapples with meaningful and sensitive gender issues, as Hedwig, formerly Hansen, tries to deal with her heartbreaking past spent in Berlin (in East Germany at the time), as the then boy struggled with his own so-called peculiarities and the inevitable identity crisis such a dilemma causes. The film follows a narrative that takes a while to settle in, as the director uses constant flashbacks and passages of magic realism to get across Hedwig’s torment. It has just a little too much outlandish (and distinctly unsubtle) oomph at times for our taste, but it’s a good one-time watch, and the performances by the two leads (Hedwig and Tommy) kept us gripped for the most part.

This article initially appeared in the May-June 2012 edition of Rock Street Journal.

Stay tuned for part II

Facebook twitter Google Plus Pinterest
Trending
Connect

Leave a comment

Recommended Stories

He Said, She Said - 2013

We speak with some of our favourite artists and personalities around and shoot a bunch of random rapid-fire questions their way about 2013 and more to wrap up our review of 2013. 

Jan 21, 2014 

By Aditya Varma  

11 Lookalikes in Indian Indie AKA Same-guy Syndrome

We ploughed the depths of the internet to find/envision/discover these uncanny resemblances in the Indian independent music circuit and beyond. Some of these people may or may not have been separated at birth. 

Jan 04, 2014 

By Aaquib Wani  

10 Observations about The Dewarists Season 3, Episode 2: 'Khirama' (Lucky Ali and Shilpa Gupta)

The Dewarists, a super-popular crossover TV show which finds that common place between music, travel, and collaborations, returns for its third season. The show airs every Sunday at 8 PM on MTV and every day of the week on YouTube. Here's our review of the second episode of the season, featuring a collaboration between singer Lucky Ali and multimedia/installation artist Shilpa Gupta.

Nov 20, 2013 

By Akhil Sood  

10 Observations about The Dewarists Season 3, Episode 1: 'Suspended'

The Dewarists, a super-popular crossover TV show which finds that common place between music, travel, and collaborations, returns for its third season. The show airs every Sunday at 8 PM on MTV and every day of the week on YouTube. Here's our review of the season premiere, featuring an offbeat collaboration between Monica Dogra, Prashant Mistry (Engine-Earz Experiment), and Eric Paré.

Nov 15, 2013 

By Akhil Sood  

7 Unexpected Covers You Must Hear

Here at RSJ, we have a tendency of often staring aimlessly at the screen, watching YouTube videos when we're supposed to be working. Especially on Fridays. So we decided to mix work with pleasure in this special feature where we bring you seven unexpected covers by bands we like - covers that came totally out of the blue. Feel free to add your own at the bottom.

Oct 11, 2013 

By RSJ Staff  

Stream Undying Inc's New Single, 'IRONCLAD'

(Artwork by Reuben Bhattacharya) ADITYA VARMA Delhi’s technical groove metal band Undying Inc have announced their comeback with their single called ‘IRONCLAD’, which hey treleased on September

Sep 09, 2013 

 

How to be a Cool and Successful DJ/Producer in 12 Simple Steps

Using our finest powers of stereotyping and generalizing, we've managed to handpick some of the most glaring traits that we think today's DJs and producers tend to have, and we've put them down in words for you. So yes, now you too can be a cool and successful DJ if you follow these simple steps. And remember, these are guidelines, not rules.

Sep 05, 2013 

By Akhil Sood  

Demonic Resurrection Release Live at Bloodstock 2012 - A Fan Funded Video

Photo by Roycin D'souza Demonic Resurrection have released Live at Bloodstock 2012, professionally shot and edited footage of their performance at the metal festival in England last year. It came out

Sep 02, 2013 

 

Lucky Seven Thoughts on the 'Nirvana Reunion'

So Paul McCartney decided to play a gig with the surviving members of Nirvana. They called it a reunion. We call shenanigans. Read our thoughts on the fake reunion. 

Dec 13, 2012 

By Akhil Sood  

5 Professions That Priyanka Chopra Should Explore Instead of Music

Akhil Sood turns all good Samaritan and stuff and suggests five alternative career options for Priyanka Chopra to pursue after hearing her song 'In My City' featuring Will.I.Am.

Oct 01, 2012 

By Akhil Sood  

The Indian Metalolympic Contingent

To bring you up to speed, you can never spell Metalolympics without LOL, nor can you ignore…

Aug 16, 2012