Review of A Mighty Wind (2003) by Alex D — 06 Apr 2012

The folk "Spinal Tap," Christopher Guest's similarly sardonic, biting, and yet endearing satire "A Mighty Wind" deconstructs the '60s folk pop movement made popular by outfits such as Peter, Paul, and Mary; the Weavers; and the Kingston Trio and the naive viewpoint the music industry tends to have on non-Odetta/Bob Dylan folk by means of a reunion concert featuring three similarly mediocre outfits: The "New" Main Street Singers (a color-coded, almost miltant type of outift solely capitalizing on nostalgia); the Folksmen (basically Spinal Tap in folk form - no, really. It's actually Spinal Tap); and Mitch and Mickey (an Asperger's-esque acid casualty and a medical salesperson who had quite a nasty break-up).

So, basically, this music impresario, Irving Steinbloom, dies and his OCD (and really "in it") son scrambles to make this half-assed tribute concert for his dad. The answer: get the three most popular groups together. Or, well, the three groups that are still together (and are willing to play for scale). Enter our three heroes, er, I mean the groups. The Folksmen ramble on like old friends who see their Kingston Trio metaparody as something of a hobby. Of course, according to the deleted scenes, they do admit to attempting to make music for the art (which got them severely demoted to a label where they didn't put those holes in the middle of the record). The New Main Street Singers are made up of color worshipers and daughters/sons of the former group, trying desperately to keep themselves relevant by playing at amusement parts and having this utter failure of a manager pitch to TV stations. Mitch and Mickey are a divorced couple, one a very unsuccessful and honest (brutally honest, like near Asperger's honesty) mental loony and the other a highly successful medical salesperson. Together, they bring a mighty wind of freedom and equality to said tribute show.

What makes this film work is how awkward and true it can get. Knowing some information about the '60s mainstream folk scene, I can tell you that most of these artists were one of the three. A lot of the humor comes from these people realizing how ridiculous they are as they progress with this show. However, the crux of the humor comes from Eugene Levy as Mitch. How he's this complete mental degenerate and he can still write kickass (if pretentious as pretentious can be) poetry is utterly astounding. And I love how his character still feels very passionate about music (and Mickey). I can easily relate to him. I mean, literally not understanding the world around you is really tough on a person. And yet, Mitch keeps on rolling. He just does what he does.

This is my first Christopher Guest film and I can safely say that this man is easily one of my favorite directors. I can't wait to see "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show.".