A Mighty Wind
When A Mighty Wind came out last year, it received a rather lukewarm response from the critics. I was really disappointed because I had enjoyed Christopher Guest’s previous film (Best in Show) enormously. I didn’t go to see it at the cinema, but since we subscribed to LOVEFiLM we’ve been catching up on a lot of films that we missed when when they came out. I have to say that the critics were talking utter tosh. A Mighty Wind is a wonderful film. It’s true that there aren’t quite as many ‘laugh out loud’ moments as Best in Show, but it’s still very funny, acutely observed and unexpectedly touching.
The film is a mock documentary about a reunion folk concert held in memory of a recently-deceased folk impresario. The details of the costumes, old album covers and album titles are so perfectly judged that you start thinking that they must be real. The semi-improvised dialogue works brilliantly, and there are some fabulous moments when a character comes out with something completely bizarre or outrageous. The part that worked best for me was the tender relationship between Mitch (completely dazed after his recent release from a mental institution) and Mickey (his one-time musical and romantic partner, until they had a huge row). Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara judge their performance perfectly, as Mitch and Mickey tentatively get to know one another again. It’s a bonus that the music is actually pretty good, and I even found myself humming Mitch and Mickey’s slightly sickly hits for a while after watching the film.
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I adored both Waiting for Guffman and Best In Show and had very high expectations for A Mighty Wind, but I also thought that ...Wind wasn't quite as good as either of them. Still, it is one of my favorite movies, and I re-watch it as often as I do ...Show.
As with ...Show, the characters were so thoroughly fleshed out that you often forgot that they were fabricated. The earnestness of them all, especially the Folksmen, made it easy to think they were real and, as one review said, you almost wish they were.
What really caught me by surprise was the songs. I have a wide range of musical taste, and my parents have listened to folk music for as long as I can remember, but I've never much cared for the genre myself.
I've got to say: in an amusingly sick way, the movie's soundtrack is one of my favorite CDs.----- I think my main problem with the movie (actually all of Guest's movies) is that they tend to feel the same. I absolutely love Spinal Tap (I know he didn't direct it, but he still wrote and starred in it), but I found Guffman to be more of a rehashing of the same elements. And by the time you get to A Mighty Wind, I didn't feel that anything new was being done. Of the later 3, I think Best in Show was the best.
This isn't to say that I thought any of them were bad, just that they felt too similar. But I did like the music - they certainly did a good job with that.
by indieb0i @ 31/08/2004 2:09 pm • Permalink •
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I'm with you here: A Mighty Wind wasn't as funny as Best in Show or Waiting for Guffman, but I thought it was a better movie.
The soundtrack album is well worth getting; it's got some bonus tracks that weren't or weren't completely played in the movie, of which the funniest is the Folksmen's cover of "Start Me Up," whose ending has to be heard to be believed. The Mitch & Mickey songs turn out to have been largely written by Eugene Levy, who I think can be justly proud of his skills as a pop songwriter; the only thing that really puts them in the realm of parody is that the lyrics are just a hair over the top.
by Matt McIrvin @ 10/09/2004 11:09 am • Permalink •
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