2.26.2007
a mighty wind
Jim bought "This is Spinal Tap" on DVD, and suddenly, I got a hankering to see "A Mighty Wind," Christopher Guest's spoof of folk musicians. I didn't even consider seeing this movie when it came out, so that was unusual for me. Even more unusual, I actually did something about it and hied myself to Hollywood Video to rent a copy.
"A Mighty Wind" surprised me by having a real plot with something at stake, and an emotional center provided by actors Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara, who play fictional folk duo "Mitch and Mickie." The duo were married in the 1960s, released a bunch of sweet folkie love songs, and then bitterly divorced by the 1970s. He goes mad and becomes a fried up ex-hippie; she marries a catheter salesman. The plot of the movie hinges around whether Mitch can get himself together in time to play live for a public television broadcast of reunited folk musicians.
Mitch and Mickie's scenes are funny but sweet as they get to know each other once again, but the film cuts through the sweetness with the appearances by a strange cult-like nine-piece singing group "The New Mainstreet Singers," in which the members we are introduced to all have a creepy and surreal back stories, and The Folksmen, a pretty straight-forward and typical folk-group that had hits with novelty songs featurings jokes and sing-a-longs. The Folksmen, played by the three main members of Spinal Tap, have some great lines, but their function in the movie seems to be the providers of the only coherent history and context of the surreal folk-world that exists in this movie.
An amazing amount of prepraration that went into this project -- the movie has "cover art" from all three bands and some of the actors had to learn how to play and sing well enough to get onstage. The DVD also has a public-television-like concert of the performances of the three groups --- with all the actors singing and playing live like real rock stars. The songs are appropriately silly send-ups of different aspects of folk music (which is something I actually don't care for).
I've never seen "Spinal Tap" from beginning to end, but what I've seen, while funny, seems often like improv actors trying to get their lines in. (I might change my mind if I ever see the whole thing straight through.) In "A MIghty Wind," the lines were also improvised, but the Mitch and Mickie plot turns out to be so well formed with a satisfying conclusion that is unexpected but perfect.
Date: 2/25/07, DVD
"A Mighty Wind" surprised me by having a real plot with something at stake, and an emotional center provided by actors Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara, who play fictional folk duo "Mitch and Mickie." The duo were married in the 1960s, released a bunch of sweet folkie love songs, and then bitterly divorced by the 1970s. He goes mad and becomes a fried up ex-hippie; she marries a catheter salesman. The plot of the movie hinges around whether Mitch can get himself together in time to play live for a public television broadcast of reunited folk musicians.
Mitch and Mickie's scenes are funny but sweet as they get to know each other once again, but the film cuts through the sweetness with the appearances by a strange cult-like nine-piece singing group "The New Mainstreet Singers," in which the members we are introduced to all have a creepy and surreal back stories, and The Folksmen, a pretty straight-forward and typical folk-group that had hits with novelty songs featurings jokes and sing-a-longs. The Folksmen, played by the three main members of Spinal Tap, have some great lines, but their function in the movie seems to be the providers of the only coherent history and context of the surreal folk-world that exists in this movie.
An amazing amount of prepraration that went into this project -- the movie has "cover art" from all three bands and some of the actors had to learn how to play and sing well enough to get onstage. The DVD also has a public-television-like concert of the performances of the three groups --- with all the actors singing and playing live like real rock stars. The songs are appropriately silly send-ups of different aspects of folk music (which is something I actually don't care for).
I've never seen "Spinal Tap" from beginning to end, but what I've seen, while funny, seems often like improv actors trying to get their lines in. (I might change my mind if I ever see the whole thing straight through.) In "A MIghty Wind," the lines were also improvised, but the Mitch and Mickie plot turns out to be so well formed with a satisfying conclusion that is unexpected but perfect.
Date: 2/25/07, DVD
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