Academically picking apart artistic processes tends to pull all passion out of the pursuit. However, "Loud" evenhandedly showcases three musicians striving and struggling as much to expand a signature sound as they did when it was initially inked.
It Might Get Loud (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:85
Fresh:66
Rotten:19
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: An affectionate tribute to rock's most distinctive instrument, It Might Get Loud is insightful and musically satisfying.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for mild thematic elements, brief language and smoking.
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Genre: Musical & Performing Arts
Theatrical Release:Aug 14, 2009 Limited
Box Office: $1,234,300
Synopsis:
Who hasn't wanted to be a rock star, join a band or play electric guitar? Music resonates, moves and inspires us. Strummed through the fingers of The Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White, somehow it...
Who hasn't wanted to be a rock star, join a band or play electric guitar? Music resonates, moves and inspires us. Strummed through the fingers of The Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White, somehow it does more. Such is the premise of It Might Get Loud, a new documentary conceived by producer Thomas Tull.
It Might Get Loud isn't like any other rock'n roll documentary. Filmed through the eyes of three virtuosos from three different generations, audiences get up close and personal, discovering how a furniture upholsterer from Detroit, a studio musician and painter from London and a seventeen-year-old Dublin schoolboy, each used the electric guitar to develop their unique sound and rise to the pantheon of superstar. Rare discussions are provoked as we travel with Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White to influential locations of their pasts. Born from the experience is intimate access to the creative genesis of each legend, such as Link Wray's "Rumble’s" searing impression upon Jimmy Page, who surprises audiences with an impromptu air guitar performance. But that's only the beginning.
While each guitarist describes his own musical rebellion, a rock'n roll summit is being arranged. Set on an empty soundstage, the musicians come together, crank up the amps and play. They also share their influences, swap stories, and teach each other songs. During the summit Page’s double-neck guitar, The Edge’s array of effects pedals and White’s new mic, custom built into his guitar, go live. The musical journey is joined by visual grandeur too. We see the stone halls of Headley Grange where "Stairway to Heaven" was composed, visit a haunting Tennessee farmhouse where Jack White writes a song on-camera, and eavesdrop inside the dimly lit Dublin studio where The Edge lays down initial guitar tracks for U2’s forthcoming single. The images, like the stories, will linger in the mind long after the reverb fades.
It Might Get Loud might not affect how you play guitar, but it will change how you listen. The film is directed and produced by An Inconvenient Truth's Davis Guggenheim, and produced by Thomas Tull, Lesley Chilcott and Peter Afterman.
Page --© Official Site
Starring: Jimmy Page, Edge, Jack White
Starring: Jimmy Page, Edge, Jack White
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Director: Davis Guggenheim
Producer: Thomas Tull, Lesley Chilcott, Peter Afterman, Davis Guggenheim
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
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Reviews for It Might Get Loud
Yes, this is the sort of stuff that makes rock fans absolutely geek out. But Guggenheim's relaxed approach does allow us to get past the guitar-god mystique and show us three fellow tradesmen in love with their craft.
...a sweet little ride, a little glimpse into the spooky stuff inside.
For once a film's tagline strikes the right note. ''It might not affect the way you play guitar, but it will change how you listen.''
By delving into their backgrounds and character quirks, Guggenheim aims the film beyond the interests of purists, academics, fans and musicians to provide an adventure film exploring the heart of creativity.
A must-see for axe players, the movie is not terribly concerned with history. Still, its design is smarter than you realise.
It cannot be said that any member of this trio is the most gifted conversationalist known to man. In fact, once pleasantries are out of the way, they barely have anything of note to say to one another.
A God-like experience for the rock music fan, this documentary contains both amazing music and insight.
The real gold lies in the separate, personal journeys of Messrs Edge, Page and White, explored in their own vastly different locales.
It might not snag Davis Guggenheim another Oscar, but his It Might Get Loud proves that Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White make for livelier viewing than Al Gore.
Music lovers will find a lot to like in It Might Get Loud, and musicians will positively love it.
...(W)e except a sonic summit of Olympian proportions. What we get instead are three slight biographies followed by sequences that merely suggest what such a coming together could actually achieve.
A celebration of philosophical and artistic conflict in which passion leads to inspiration instead of prejudice or judgment, and principles are ingrained.
A sense of sweeping admiration overpowers the film's audience and turns us all into silly, unapologetic, screaming fans.
Listening to rock gods speak about their music isn't nearly as enjoyable as listening to them play it.
Watch the little admiring smiles that creep onto the faces of The Edge and White as Page turns his Les Paul to 11 and starts blasting out the riff from "Whole Lotta Love." They're big rock stars, but all of a sudden they're 14 again.
Required viewing for guitar enthusiasts, and a pleasant diversion for everyone else.
Guitar heroes, real or imaginary, will think they’ve died and gone to heaven.
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