This follows in the footsteps of other movies about studio musicians Such as The Wrecking Crew, Standing in the Shadows of Motown etc. Oh you thought you were going to see a movie about Hip Hop?
This movie is about the Incredible Bongo Band song 'Apache'. But you can't really blow a feature length movie on a 3 minute song with no real lyrics. So they go deep into the producer and studio musicians who made the song. Very Deep. Some would say too deep.
They do get around to the Hip Hop side of thingseventually, but that is still only a small part of the movie.
I enjoyed finding out trivia about various band members and seeing them perform. However this is where the movie loses me. Whomever edited the audio and performance footage together seems to have some human defect where they cannot perceive a down beat? The music and the footage of the musicians is completely out of sync. As if the footage of the musicians is merely B roll to fill up space until an important person appears on screen and starts talking.
This would be a minor glitch for other types of films. But the specific genre this film is trading in is the 'respect due to unrecognized musicians'. It hits all the notes, plays all the shopworn tropes of the niche.
If a film is about respecting musicians, do them the respect of lining up the footage so what you see is what you hear. The effect was a bit unsettling at first, but only got worse as the movie progressed.
The movie also suffers from typical documentary pacing issues. The first third flows pretty well, as is always the case with films that have a longer post production. Then the last third stops and starts, as if they keep finding tapes they thought they lost.
Overall this is best if watched non-critically, if there really is nothing better to do.
This movie is about the Incredible Bongo Band song 'Apache'. But you can't really blow a feature length movie on a 3 minute song with no real lyrics. So they go deep into the producer and studio musicians who made the song. Very Deep. Some would say too deep.
They do get around to the Hip Hop side of thingseventually, but that is still only a small part of the movie.
I enjoyed finding out trivia about various band members and seeing them perform. However this is where the movie loses me. Whomever edited the audio and performance footage together seems to have some human defect where they cannot perceive a down beat? The music and the footage of the musicians is completely out of sync. As if the footage of the musicians is merely B roll to fill up space until an important person appears on screen and starts talking.
This would be a minor glitch for other types of films. But the specific genre this film is trading in is the 'respect due to unrecognized musicians'. It hits all the notes, plays all the shopworn tropes of the niche.
If a film is about respecting musicians, do them the respect of lining up the footage so what you see is what you hear. The effect was a bit unsettling at first, but only got worse as the movie progressed.
The movie also suffers from typical documentary pacing issues. The first third flows pretty well, as is always the case with films that have a longer post production. Then the last third stops and starts, as if they keep finding tapes they thought they lost.
Overall this is best if watched non-critically, if there really is nothing better to do.