It Might Get Loud is, ostensibly, a documentary about guitars and guitarists. Director Davis Guggenheim approached this film in a similar manner that he approached An Inconvenient Truth, which is, ostensibly, a power point presentation on Global Warming. To say that either film is exactly that does both a great injustice though. Allow me to explain.
An Inconvenient Truth is as much about humanizing the "stiff" perception of Al Gore, and allowing the human behind the image to indulge in a conversation about his passion (in the case of the film, global warming). It Might Get Loud is about three guitarists from three different generations: Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White, and does study their influences, approaches to playing, and particularly their very different styles. But in the course of It Might Get Loud, we learn more about the three musicians and their outlook on life and music, and then there's the "hook": a summit between Page, White, and The Edge where they swap stories, teach each other songs, and gradually appear to be more in common than you'd expect from the outset.
For example, at the beginning, much is made of the divergence between The Edge (who likes to endlessly tinker with music electronically to create new sounds) and Jack White (who prefers stripped down sounds and opens the film creating a guitar with a 2X4, a coke bottle, a string and amp hookups. He does so all in camera, and to be honest the effect is pretty impressive). However, as we learn more about the two, and particularly while we watch them swap stories and trade licks, the divide that seems impassable gradually disappears.
Page, the elder statesman and journeyman guitarist of the group (I honestly had no idea he was a session musician between playing skiffle and joining The Yardbirds) provides some of the greatest moments of the "summit". My personal favorite involves Page playing "Whole Lotta Love" as Edge and White stand there with huge smiles on their faces. It's a moment of musician geek out that Guggenheim happens to capture and feels absolutely serendipitous. There's another deleted scene where White teaches Page and Edge how to play "Seven Nation Army" that's similarly endearing.
I had a few weird run-ins with the film: there are two gimmicks Guggenheim employs that just don't seem to work. The first is the early introduction of a boy subtitled "Jack White: Age 9" who follows Jack White around and learns to play guitar with him. It's not in the film long, and any longer might have been a deal breaker for me, but even in the short appearance he makes, I felt it stood out.
The second are animated sequences designed to represent something from the interviews that Guggenheim has no photographic or archival reference for. I don't know why, but neither time do the segments work for me.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed It Might Get Loud. I learned more about the three of them and the guitars they love than I ever anticipated, and the moments during the summit are really something special. If anything, I wish there was more footage of Page, White, and Edge talking shop and jamming, because that's where much of the gold comes from in It Might Get Loud. Even if you aren't a fan of U2, Led Zeppelin, or The White Stripes, there's something to surprise and engage you in this documentary. Definitely worth your time, and who knows, perhaps an Oscar candidate.
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Coming soon - a review of the excellent Up in the Air, and possibly Facing Ali - another Oscar contender.
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