It Might Get Loud (2008)

I was excited going into this, and underwhelmed coming out. But I am amused that the publicity for this film emphasizes director Davis Guggenheim's last movie, An Inconvenient Truth. Because if there's one thing where the subject matter overlaps like no other, it's environmental warnings and guitar wankery.

Tough to say who this is for. You couldn't pick three much more different guitarists than Jimmy Page, U2's Edge, and Jack White. I appreciate all of their contributions on different levels, though technique-wise Page could wipe the floor with the other two with plenty of jet-engine-imitating facial expressions to spare. If you're already a rock music fan you probably already know the significance of the places they visit to pad out the runtime: Headley Grange for Zep, where IV was recorded- seeing the room where the Levee Breaks drums were recorded is pretty sweet- and U2's high school, where the band met. White doesn't have that legendary lore attached to his backstory (will he ever? the verdict is out), so his sections make do with a lot of old/lo-fi fetishism, all "Son House was standing in a room stomping and singing, it's my favorite record, technology sucks."

I kind of wish there had been some kind of fireworks between White and Edge at the "summit" where the three sit in a fake living room on a soundstage and learn each other's songs, instead of the litany of poker faces we're treated to. "Yes, yes, show me again how to play Seven Nation Army. That one's tough." (Quotation marks indicating, in this case, something no one actually said, but the level of emotional honesty and willingness to debate is about on that level.)

It seems clear that Guggenheim was hoping for *some* kind of discussion of differences in approach or values to emerge by bringing these three guys together- the technique master, the technology wizard, and the feeling-over-complexity, back-to-basics advocate- but his subjects aren't willing to oblige. If I remember the press material correctly, he made sure the three never met before taping the meeting. And it feels like that, like total strangers feeling each other out and scared to do or say anything stupid...which is the total opposite of what music, and artistry in general, is about.

It's like some kind of host-less music talk show, three guests just biding their time until they can take off. A more interesting approach would have been a round-robin covers thing, where for instance, Page would learn Sunday Bloody Sunday, Edge would learn Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, and White would learn In My Time of Dying, and then we could compare how the song retains or changes its shape in the hands of another artist. Then they'd have something to talk about. As it is, it's like they're practicing for a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame show and are trying to decide what songs to play, in a uniquely passive-aggressive musician way. "Hey how about that one of yours. That one's cool, let's try it." [originator plays song and other two half-ass their way through it] "Yeah, that one's cool...Oh, how about this one instead?"