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| A Mighty Wind |
| Genre |
Comedy |
| Director |
Christopher Guest |
| Starring |
Eugene Levy |
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"A Mighty Wind" will be pleasing to fans of Christopher Guest. While the improv and the music are very witty, the film seems to have a lack of overall drama and fails to reach the comic heights of Guest"s previous "Mockumentaries".
"This is Spinal Tap" was a dead on parody of the heavy metal scene. Aerosmith has remarked on many occasions how it embarrassed them after the release of their 1982 album which featured large rocks on the cover very similar to Stonehenge. I'm not sure that "Wind" has the same relevance to the folk scene.
"A Mighty Wind" begins when the death of the legendary folk promoter Irving Steinbloom. His son Jonathan (Bob Balaban) wants to stage a concert in his honor at Town Hall. He assembles a who's who of the fictional Folk scene of the 1960's: the relentlessly upbeat New Main Street Singers, the Folksmen (Guest, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean) and the stars of the show, the long separated Mitch and Mickey (Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara).
Mitch is brilliantly played by Levy as a sad-sack loser with stringy gray hair, wide eyes, hunched shoulders and an exaggerated stilted speech pattern. Mitch still has a broken heart because a famous onstage kiss with Mickey did not lead to lasting offstage romance. In fact, we learn he completely freaked out after their break-up: suffering a number of nervous breakdowns and ultimately having to be institutionalized. After all this unstability we're unsure if he can still sing or even remember lyrics.
Mickey has fared slightly better, moving on to marry a catheter salesman and model-train enthusiast. O'Hara makes the character just as complex in her own way, viewing the reemerged Mickey with a mixture of tenderness, concern and anxiety. Their performance of their signature tune, "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow," which traditionally would feature a kiss toward the end of the song, provides the movie's one truly dramatic, emotional moment.
A lot of the movie consists of music, much of it written by Guest and other collaborators in the cast. The music, as in "Spinal Tap" is actually pretty good and manages to capture the quality of the lesser groups of the time. The problem is that the movie ignores folk's function as protest music which seems odd given that these artists came of age in the 60's.
"A Mighty Wind" arrives as a breath of fresh air, for its smart ensemble, subtle wit and creative music. Co-written by Guest and Eugene Levy, the picture comes up with great jokes and bits, as well as finding new ways to be funny. There's a quiet and yet ragingly absurdist style of humor that belongs to the Guest films alone, and "A Mighty Wind" takes it a step further: more quiet, more absurdist.
It's enjoyable to be in the presence of this much talent and wit. Did I find it that funny? Not really, but I found it clever. It's always nice to watch a comedy that's neither stupid nor crude, that's clever instead of cheap.
THE REPETITIVE SUMMARY: "A Mighty Wind" features good music and witty, subtle comedy. It's an enjoyable film but for the most part fails to provoke any real emotions. It fails to be very relevant in regards to the folk scene or reach the comic heights that was achieved during "This Is Spinal Tap" but still gets the thumbs up. (B- to B) |
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| "We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it." |
- Jack Nicholson
A Few Good Men
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Distributed Beers
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| 5 |
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot |
| 4 |
Guinness Draught |
| 3 |
Newcastle Brown Ale |
| 2 |
Bass Pale Ale |
| 1 |
Samuel Adams Boston Lager |
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