It Might Get Loud

EMPIRE AVENUE, PARK CITY

Just returned from the US premier of "It Might Get Loud," my first screening of this year's fest. I was pretty excited to be able to catch this film here at Sundance since it got pretty good buzz when it first screened back in May at the Cannes Film Festival and subsequently in September at the Toronto Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics has already picked up distribution for the film, so it'll definitely find a home at a theater near you.

Directed by Davis Guggenheim, who most recently directed "An Inconvenient Truth" and made Al Gore a movie star, "It Might Get Loud" is a documentary film about the history of the electric guitar framed through the eyes of three accomplished guitarists - Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin fame), the Edge (of U2 fame) and Jack White (of the White Stripes and the Raconteurs). The basic premise... take all three musicians and lock them in a soundstage together for two days and see what comes out. It sounds unstructured, but out of this loose idea Guggenheim manages to get some really interesting things out of all three as they trace their steps back through their own artistic upbringings to arrive at where they are today. Each has a unique sound and a very different story, but at the end all three find many common threads. As Guggenheim mentioned during the Q&A following the screening, most documentaries about music are either encyclopaedic and try to cover everything or they focus on the personal stories of drugs, alcohol and bus crashes. With this film, he made a concious decision to not do either, instead opting to simply let the three artists tell their own stories and develop from that an arc that allows you glimpses into some of the definining moments that lead each to their current relationship with their instruments and music. Jack White talks about how for him it's all about creating a "challenge," eschewing the synthetic and fighting with instruments, Jimmy Page disusses his beginnings creating Musak (really), and the Edge allows a brief glimpse into what his work sounds like once you turn off all the layered effects that so define his style. Ultimately it's a fantastic glimpse into each artist's process and how they relate to their work.

Will you like this film? Maybe, maybe not. For those who feel that rock music speaks to them or consider themselves electric guitar officianados, this film will land itself high on your "most awesome documentary ever" list. For those who don't feel rock music is a window to the soul or tire quickly of listening to artists spout what many might consider cliche words about their art, then you're probably better off seeing something else. I, for one, thought it was fantastic and want to immediately go back and watch it again.

Learn more at www.itmightgetloud.com

A moment

The members of U2 provide an introduction at the U2 3D premier


PARK CITY

Oh yeah... And the members of U2 themselves (sans Larry Mullen who was "under the weather") introduced the film to us.

U2 3D

PARK CITY

My ears are still ringing.

Just got out of U2 3D.

Wow.

This is a film I've had on my to-see list since a shorter cut screened at Cannes back in May to rave reviews. Tonight marked the world premier of the final theatrical cut, clocking in at 85 minutes and featuring 14 songs from the South American leg of U2's Vertigo tour.

In many ways I find myself surprised by the experience of this film. Having considered myself a U2 fan since the early 90s (yeah... there are a ton of people who were fans long before I was, but I can still count at least 16 years of fandom), I was hugely disappointed by a shoot from a Chicago show of the Vertigo tour I caught on HDNet awhile back. Energy was flat, Bono's notes were flat and the whole thing really made it feel like the group has lost its luster. The whole thing was hugely disappointing. Considering U2 3D covers that very same tour, I expected more of the same.

But I was completely wrong.

At its core it's a concert film. But this is a concert film like you've never seen before. Totally immersive, both in sound and vision, the filmmakers really use the idea of 3D to the extreme. Over the past few years, the new wave 3D technology has really been coming into its own for filmmaking, and this film is really a poster child for all the format can be. You experience U2 like you never have before, even if you were lucky enough to get front row tickets to see them live. Blending 3D concert footage with occasional animation, the film seamlessly blends arena and stadium gigs together into one set list that reminds you why U2 is... well... U2. My faith has been restored.

While you might expect the 3D to be a bit of a gimmick... it's anything but. Sure you have a few obligatory shots of Adam Clayton and Bono throwing hands and guitar parts into the lens, but overall the 3D is really used more as a compliment to the live show rather than an excuse. The cinematography is absolutely stunning. Pair that with some pretty incredible sound design and mixing and you quickly forget you're sitting in a movie theater (albeit a movie theater absolutely shaking with sound). In fact, it felt extremely strange to be sitting down, passively watching. I found it hard to restrain the urge to jump out of my seat, scream and join the thousands of fans on screen. Numerous times I saw others in the audience (the audience of the film, that is) jump up, wave their hands and even throw their lighted cell phones high in the air during the few ballads in the set. The boundary between the screen and the seat utterly vanished.

Needless to say I'm pretty pumped right now. But... It's almost 3am and I have a 9am screening tomorrow. Time to get some shuteye.