Tuesday, May 5, 2009

METAL ON METAL: I saw "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" on Saturday with my favorite heavy metal fan. The film has received exceptionally good reviews. For example, Anthony Lane of The New Yorker called it "the most stirring release of the year."

I liked it a lot, but I think my expectations were too high. Many of the reviews make the obvious comparison between the (real) band in this film and the fictional band in This is Spinal Tap. There are quite a few parallels. But Anvil is not a comedy like Spinal Tap. It's a portrait of some sweet people clinging to a dream.

I thought Anthony Lane got the essence of the film correct:
This film is not about rock music at all, still less about school lunches in Ontario, or unusual uses for vibrators; it is about time, and how it threatens to fade us out like a song on the radio, and why, risking ridicule, and leaning on love, we should crank up the volume and keep going.

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