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Mighty Wind
Directed By: Christopher
Guest Plot
Summary - Review 1 - Review
2 - CURRENT REVIEWS
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| When folk icon Irving Steinbloom passed away, he left behind a legacy of music and a family of performers he has shepherded to folk stardom. To celebrate a life spent submerged in folk, Irving's loving son Jonathan has decided to put together a memorial concert featuring some of Steinbloom's best-loved musicians. There's Mitch and Mickey, who were the epitome of young love until their partnership was torn apart by heartbreak; classic troubadours The Folksmen, whose records were endlessly entertaining for anyone able to punch a hole in the center to play them; and The New Main Street Singers, the most meticulously color-coordinated neuftet ever to hit an amusement park. Now for one night only in New York City's Town Hall, these three groups will reunite and gather together to celebrate the music that almost made them famous. [TRAILER] Christopher Guest films may count as their own, independent genre. The writer and director of “Waiting For Guffman” (1996), about community theater, and “Best In Show” (2000), the hilarious movie about a dog competition and the animal’s eccentric owners, count as some of the funniest works put forth by Hollywood over the past ten years. And now, with “A Mighty Wind,” Guest has returned in fine form, offering up yet another irresistible and hilarious mockumentary. What is a “mockumentary,” you may asking. Well, as Guest has defined it through these three films, it is a style of filmmaking that allows jokes to be told with the utmost sincerity and for the humor of the characters to trump, in many cases, traditional punch lines or comedic situations. True to form, “A Mighty Wind” is presented as a serious, literal documentary. In it, there are folk music legends, agents in the music industry, music critics and businesspeople. If someone without a sense of humor approached the film, they would think that “A Mighty Wind” is literally the story of a reunion concert, being thrown to honor a dead music producer, and the numerous music personalities who show up for the tribute. But, like all Guest films, the humor works beneath the surface. These may be fictitiously famous folk bands, but their music seems appallingly unrefined. Some of the stars have suffered breakdowns since their last public performance. The businessmen staging the concert seem borderline incompetent. And the agent for one of the musical groups is, to be kind, neurotic. As the film unfolds, and these humorous facts emerge, “A Mighty Wind” starts to gain speed. It is well-known that Guest encourages improvisation from those in his cast, and we sense the fun that many of these actors had in creating their eccentric and hilarious personalities. While the bands practice their music for the concert, scheduled as a live telecast for public television, the various characters, tensions and conflicts build to a most memorable conclusion. In fact, the funniest moments of the movie are saved for the very end as, one by one, these bands we have come to know so well take the stage and enjoy their one last moment in the spotlight. I love Christopher Guest films. Unlike so many other major comedies, which attempt to shock the audiences into laughs with fart jokes, bodily fluids and obscene situations, Guest instead finds the humor in the situation and the people. His true gift is finding the balance between mocking and admiring. While we may laugh at these character’s tendencies, we also learn to love what’s beneath the surface. “A Mighty Wind,” much like Guest’s previous work, is compassionate humor. We do not laugh at these folk stars, but with them. The best comparison I can make is to a dysfunctional family reunion. Each relative may have traits that are hilarious, but we love them all the same. All this being said, I would rank “A Mighty Wind” as the least successful of the Guest trilogy. The other films had a consistent momentum that made them endlessly unwatchable. In “Guffman,” there were the rehearsals of the production and the buildup to the first performance. In “Best In Show,” there were the various back stories of the dog owners and the buildup to the competition. In “A Mighty Wind,” during the film’s mid-section, there is little occurring. The back story has already been constructed, the concert is still far off, and there are several scenes in which the characters more closely resemble standup comedians, fighting for a laugh, than real people. While many of these moments are indeed funny, the film’s lack of momentum makes these scenes stand out from the rest. Granted, I am comparing great comedies. All three are better than most Hollywood releases. The question is not whether “A Mighty Wind” is good, but rather, how good? While the film’s last third takes off, with the musical groups taking stage for their big moment, something seems slightly contrived about the film’s earlier moments. Something is missing. Guest’s previous success with deep and rich characters is, at times, lost amid comedic skits that feel far shallower than what we have come to expect from the great mockumentaries of the past. “A Mighty Wind” might not make a top ten list this year, unlike “Best In Show,” which I thought was one of the best films of 2000. But rest assured, as far as comedies go, this one is quite a hoot. I can’t wait for Guest’s next installment, surely to come in 2006.   Check out Reviews, Commentary, and More at Zertinet.com |
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