Grant Gee, following Radiohead around with cameras during their international tour to promote OK Computer, does not do much that has not already been done in like documentaries of popular musical artists. But what he does is remarkably involving, despite the fact that the audience will most likely be limited to fans of the group and people interested in non-fiction filmmaking. Meeting People Is Easy recaptures all the trappings of rock superstardom: fawning groupies, jealous journalists, relentless photo shoots, sterile airports, lonely hotel rooms, and above all, the horror of performing once exciting songs over and over, night after night. Gee's greatest strength, however, lies in the editing, as sound and vision constantly overlap and compete. Texts of many of the glowing (even raving) critical responses to OK Computer periodically scroll up or glide across the screen, making a not inconsiderable effort to explain how a galvanized media community can seemingly alter the destinies of a handful of young men who just enjoyed making music. The embrace, Gee seems to suggest, brings fame and fortune -- but also a unique kind of pressure that undeniably alters the world-view of the artists, thereby affecting all future recordings (lead singer Thom Yorke has a number of bitter musings on this very subject). At times self-indulgent, Meeting People Is Easy is more often engaging and hypnotic -- a film that reaches just a bit beyond its immediate milieu to explore a meaningful idea or two.
