8th
It Might Get Loud | Film Review
Football fans, albeit the slightly more obsessive ones, often fantasise about their perfect team: A team made up of the world’s finest players, where money is no object and a geriatric Swede doesn’t come along to mess it all up.
One of the nearest things for fans of rock music is to dream of who they’d most like hear jam and play music. Davis Guggenheim (director of An Inconvenient Truth) had that dream, and he’s put it on film.
Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge are some of the most influential guitarists and musicians of their respective generations. In Guggenheim’s latest offering, they’re introduced inside a warehouse along with their guitars and amplifiers. A colourful bout of musically philosophical reminiscing ensues.
To the uninitiated, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page is a Rock God. Having also been a session guitarist and performed with bands such as The Kinks and The Yardbirds, his influence on rock music across the world is near enough unparalleled. U2’s The Edge, doesn’t quite command the same reverence, but that doesn’t detract from his prowess as a musician and guitarist.
Both he and The White Stripes’ Jack White (also of The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather) are visibly nervous in Page’s presence, but soon relax as the riffs and melodies roll out. Jack White is probably the most fearful of the meeting, as is fairly plain to see in his body language. But by the end of the film the usually sullen-looking man is actively grinning, and so is the audience.
The highly polished film is interspersed by miniature biographical jaunts in which the guitarists explore their roots as musicians. We dip in and out of these as the guys explore each other’s playing styles, in a way that’s not too dissimilar to some of Channel 4’s late night Abbey Road Sessions. Gorgeous visuals and great attention to detail in the camera-work make this a very pleasant documentary to watch, and coupled with some of the finest guitarists the world has to offer, you’d find it hard to tear yourself away.
As a testament to its effect, the end of the film triggered a spontaneous outburst of applause: something I don’t think I’ve ever seen from a UK audience. An awkward pause followed whereby we all silently contemplated how ridiculous it is to clap at a screen. The truth is, it’s worthy of such praise.
