featuring Anvil (aka Lips and Robb Reiner)
In a nutshell: A very entertaining portrait of a few guys who have been rolling with the punches for a very long time but still have their eyes on the prize. It will make you feel guilty for ever giving up on any dream
Quick synopsis: Many of Anvil's peers and proteges went on to massive worldwide stardom while Anvil toiled in obscurity for 2 decades. Anything that can go wrong often does as they pick themselves up for yet another attempt at breaking through.
Content: If you have heard of this movie, you have probably heard the band and their antics compared to fictional bumbling rockers, Spinal Tap. And everything you've heard would be true. The parallels are eerie, from meddling girlfriends to empty arenas and faulty management. The Story of Anvil is a sad but uplifting story about two guys with a dream. It's sad because they still haven't achieved their dream of rock stardom as they enter their 50's, but it is uplifting because they simply don't know how to give up on it, no matter how they cruelly they are treated by the world. We are talking about guys that work demolition, drive food delivery trucks and live paycheck-to-paycheck in order to record their next album.
Although the other band members have rotated throughout the years, Anvil is based around its lead singer/guitarist nicknamed "Lips" and its drummer, Robb Reiner. These guys have a complex relationship that is more intricate than many marriages. One is emotionally explosive while the other who is often the target of the outbursts has pretty much developed a dependency on his leader to help him achieve his dream. They suffer setback after setback mixed in with just enough hope to keep them going when combined with unabashed love for heavy metal.
You will feel for these guys as things don't go their way and you get furious alongside them when they get stiffed in Prague. But then they are juxtaposed against their siblings who seem to be successful, upstanding citizens and the comparison is startling. But the film never judges these guys. At times I question how much the events depicted are being edited to make the rollercoaster that is Anvil seem more extreme, but for the most part Anvil is an extremely candid look at a few aging guys with a dream who wears their emotions on their sleeves and are completely unaffected by the fact that there is a camera following them.
I wanted these guys to succeed in the worst way, even though I know it would probably lead to disaster if they did. Anvil seem destined to be tragic heroes of one kind or another and I will be interested to see how the profile boost given to them by this film affects them. I would recommend this documentary to anyone, whether a fan of metal or not.
The film reaches its high point at the very end. It's an emotionally powerful, if simple moment, not just because of what happens, but because of Lips' reaction. Seeing how important something so insignificant to the rest of us was to him brought a small tear to my eye as his eyes welled up and even if only for one show, his lifetime of work had been justified.
Rolling rankings:
1. Inglourious Basterds (#168)
2. Where The Wild Things Are (#169)
3. Adventureland (#170)
4. Anvil! The Story of Anvil (#172)
5. Duplicity (#167)
6. Battle Royale (#165)
7. Into the Wild (#166)
8. Interview With The Vampire (#163)
9. I Love You, Man (#164)
10. The American Nightmare (#171)
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