Film Reviews

A Mighty Wind

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Bob Balaban
• Details: US / 87 mins / (No Cert).

Like 'Best in Show' (2001), the latest film from the comedic troupe headed by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, 'A Mighty Wind' is a loose limbed pseudo-documentary. This time around, the subject is musicians, or more precisely a bunch of left winged, hippy folk musicians who've not coped particularly with the passing of the decades since the blissed out sixties. Spiritually led by a now estranged folk duo called Mitch (Levy) and Mickey (O'Hara), the gang are reunited for a memorial gig for a deceased concert promoter, Irving Steinbloom. The concert has been organised by his son, Jonathan Steinbloom (an excellent Balaban). Of course, the musicians - who preach utopian ideals with a vigour bordering on fanaticism - are all carrying so much baggage that collectively they're in danger of being mistaken for an airport carousel.
A film which manages to be affectionate but never patronising and biting but never mean-spirited, 'A Mighty Wind' is a marvellous high wire pulled off with invention and skill. Much like an episode of 'The Simpsons' (which Messrs Shearer, Guest and McKean have been involved with, to varying degrees, over the years), humour pervades virtually every scene of 'A Mighty Wind' making it almost impossible to take everything in on a single viewing. Really, it's that funny.

Review by Garreth Murphy