Love Spreads

There's been a lot of negativity around this movie but it's honestly a joy. Using the British-honed style of faux documentary filmmaking, it follows a girl band Glass Heart as they work on their album at the famous Rockfield Studios in England. Their manager Mark (Nick Helm) is struggling to get Kelly (Shawkat), a pretentious and uppity American and the songwriter of the band, to crack on so they can get recording, the label breathing down his neck. Meanwhile, the band is flailing in all directions -- until the brilliant and flamboyant studio guitarist Pat (Gonzalez) arrives. I wonder if Americans will get this style of filmmaking, and that might be part of the problem, but if this had been a show like Fleabag instead of a movie, I think it would have won countless awards and would have made it majestically across the pond.

Alia Shawkat is great at being disgusting here, and is a fantastic stick in the mud for Nick Helm, also turning in a fantastic performance. Chanel Cresswell is the balance for all, a believable ballast for the band. Of course, Eiza Gonzalez takes the movie away, and is addictive watching for the second half, every little eye movement and hair flick perfectly engineered for this character, moved only by Nick's grounded wife, a brilliant cameo by Dolly Wells.

This is a great film, and much better than half the movies being touted as masterpieces this season. And it's a feminist piece, no gross sex scenes, breasts out, none of that. Just a properly made story and properly thought out acting.