I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (2002)

First-time filmmaker and award-winning photographer Sam Jones documents the recording of Wilco's album, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot."

Director:

Sam Jones

Stars:

Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Leroy Bach

Cast

Credited cast:
Jeff Tweedy	...	Himself
John Stirratt	...	Himself
Leroy Bach	...	Himself
Glenn Kotche	...	Himself
Jay Bennett	...	Himself
Greg Kot	...	Himself
Tony Margherita	...	Himself
Fred Armisen	...	Himself
Wes Orshoski	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bill Bentley
David Bither
Lin Brehmer
Chris Brickley
Ken Coomer	...	Himself
David Fricke

Storyline

First time director Sam Jones documents the making of Wilco's fourth studio Album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Named after the Wilco song that is featured on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, an album that strays from the Alt-country that made them famous. Jones' desire was to document the creative work of YHF's production, he seems to have found a bit more, including band members departing and a conflict with Reprise record company. This is a true documentry of art versus money-driven media conglomerates.

---

Plot Keywords:

record company | songwriter | rock music | recording studio | musician | 

---

Genres:

Documentary | Music

---

Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Wilco the Movie

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 June 2002 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,776, 28 July 2002

Gross USA:

$445,522

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$445,522

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bona Fide Productions, Cowboy Pictures, Experience Music Project

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the final chorus of the song "Monday" the line "get me out of FLA" becomes "get me out of TLA" (an inside joke/nod to Jay Bennett's band Titanic Love Affair). In the performance the camera catches John Stirratt singing "TLA" while Jeff Tweedy seems to be singing "FLA" and then looks surprised and bemused at the conflict of whether or not to keep Bennett's contribution.

---

Connections

References Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

User Reviews

A fascinating if badly made documentary

firstly i'm a huge wilco fan and therefore was always going to like this, even if it was directed by michael bay and shot on a ninety eighties camcorder. It has fantastic footage that allows you to get into the 'wilco world' and generally made me very jealous.

however i don't believe sam jones has any clout as a film maker. The biggest flaw seems to be that it doesn't get what yankee hotel foxtrot really is as an album. Even in the commentary Jeff Tweedy shows his surprise at jones' inclusion of live versions of songs from earlier albums like 'being there'.

The big problem is that the album clearly changed a great deal after mr bennett left the band and jim o rourke turned a collection of good and slightly less than good rock songs into a ground-breaking piece of rock and roll. O rourke made the album great, hearing the versions that were painstakingly put together before Jim came on board proves this and yet Jones failed to make him a central part of the doc, relagated him to one joint interview with Jeff Tweedy when he says nothing.

Unfortunately this film only tells half the story and therefore feels half-finished and padded out with lots of material that could have been put on the, already very healthy, special features discs. Having said all this it is still worth watching but not worth worshipping, a bit like yankee hotel foxtrot (unless you're listening to it on vinyl of course!).