The Sparks Brothers (2021)

August 15, 2021 2:48 PM

'The Sparks Brothers' is a 2021 music documentary film directed by Edgar Wright about Ron and Russell Mael, the creators of the pop and rock band Sparks.

We've already had a bit of a discussion about Sparks on the blue, but since that thread is closed and the film is more widely available, a Fanfare thread is probably safe.

posted by Kyol (2 comments total)

Honestly I think the biggest head scratcher for me about the documentary is sometimes the people that got roped into commentary seem sort of like the director called up a bunch of people to see who'd be willing to sit down more than people who were actually necessary to tell the story? And I sort of kind of wish someone paid attention in the editing - it felt like the movie could have used more repetitions of ID tags. Like, when they'd bring out someone well outside of their appropriate context (like all the various producers and band members), then they sort of assumed the viewer would remember who this white haired dude was who got introduced 15-20 minutes and a dozen people ago was to the story.

But otherwise, I'm a new fan - I was sort of familiar with Sparks from bits and pieces of musical history, but never enough to recognize the full oeuvre as it were. I think the documentary does a good job of introducing them and their music, although it gets a little uncertain in the last third.
posted by Kyol at 2:53 PM on August 15, 2021

I loved the interviews with Ron and Russell, the live footage, the weird TV clips and promo videos they made throughout their career. I understand why Wright had/wanted to interview a bunch of celebrities about why Sparks were important or significant, but a lot of the subjects he brought in seemed kind of... random? At times, having famous people who had no real connection to the band or their era/milieu made the film seem like an infomercial. OTOH, it’s a great movie if you want Neil Gaiman to mansplain ”T*ts” to you.

Between this and Annette, I’m glad to see Sparks finally have a moment in America. Hopefully this will be successful enough to get Mai the Psychic Girl made.
posted by pxe2000 at 5:05 AM on August 20, 2021