Review: It Might Get Loud

I had the great opportunity to go to a screening of ‘It Might Get Loud’ a week and a half ago. I was to hold my review till the movie releases. No problem. Never mind that some mainstream mags and blogs get to publish theirs whenever they feel like. And never mind that some of those ‘reviews’ I’ve seen so far are as retarded as if I’d attempted to write healthcare reform policies for the government. It’s amazing how publications can get away saying almost nothing about a film and call it a review.

Eh.

So what is ‘It Might Get Loud’ a documentary about? Producer Thomas Tull summed it up best in a Q&A:

“Honestly, I made this film for people like me, people who love music and the experience of a live show. When you love a band or a musician you want to know how and why they do what they do – what makes them tick.”

Amen. This is not a film about the history of the electric guitar as some early retarded reviews may have suggested. This is not a theatrical version of ‘Classic Albums’ or ‘Behind the Music.’ What we see is three guitar players reveal their musical DNA, if you will, to us and to each other as they sit across from one another for the first time. I’ll be honest with you, without Jack White, this film doesn’t work. He is the glue that makes it all stick. From the moment I saw Jack White, age present, and Jack White, age 9, driving down the road I knew I’d be in for a, um, ride.

All three came to pick up the guitar under different circumstances, for different reasons, in different parts of the world, and they all struggled to find what to say with it, how to say it, and where to find the sound. The film lets the guys remember it, show it, perform it. You do get to see what makes them, as Tull put it, tick.

It’s a beautiful film. If you love guitar and guitar films, as I do, you’ll love this film. Just don’t go expecting earth-shattering revelations. And if you don’t like the movie, your keyboard playing sucks balls too!