A Mighty Wind (2003)
Directed by Christopher Guest
Three eclectic, never-quite-famous folk bands come together for the first time in decades following the death of their manager to put on an reunion concert in his honor, at the request of his son.
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What critics compared A Mighty Wind to
Not for the serious or staid, What We do in the Shadows is in the vein of Christopher Guest and the mockumentaries A Mighty Wind and Best in Show (OK, you pick your favorite.)
What We Do in the Shadows is also one of the better mockumentaries to be released in a long time, Waititi and Clement showing considerable skill with the limited format, proving themselves in league with the likes of Christopher Guest (A Mighty Wind, This is Spinal Tap).
The latter contingent, however, will be more apt to ape Fred Willard in A Mighty Wind by asking, "Wha' happened?"
A road trip later in the picture offers a change of pace, but this is a slice of life of one of many trying to make it on the folk circuit, and the Coens capture every detail, acknowledging their fondness for their era, while being able to laugh at it as well (though without getting as broad as Christopher Guest's "A Mighty Wind," the last major folk movie).
Folk music is beautiful wherever it is sung, even in the kind of homogenized, commercial versions looked down on by Davis (and gently mocked in “A Mighty Wind”).
While there’s humour to be found in the various depictions of folk music in the film, it’s no A Mighty Wind, and the patience afforded to showcasing Isaac’s several, stirring, heart-stopping performances conveys sincerity and respect on the Coens’ part.
As for Nargle, he seems like a refugee from a Christopher Guest film, and I can imagine him, say, as an artist-in-residence among the folksingers of “A Mighty Wind” (2003).
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OK then, maybe this movie's going to be more like " A Mighty Wind ," a kind of parody/spoof of a rarefied subculture.
And neither did the other reviewer who caught up with me after the screening and asked (paraphrasing Fred Willard in A Mighty Wind), “Hey, wha’ happened?”
In a curious but entirely welcome casting decision, she’s surrounded by actors mostly known for their comedic roles, from Jennifer Coolidge ( A Mighty Wind , Legally Blonde ) as her worried, pestering mother to Alison Brie (“Community,” “GLOW”) as a former classmate who made light of that traumatic event and Max Greenfield (“The New Girl”) as one of the bros caught up in Cassie’s ultimate revenge plot.
In the subgenre of movies that capture (or at least artfully dramatize) the birth of beautiful music (think Once or A Mighty Wind ), Frank is a stunner.
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To quote Fred Willard in A Mighty Wind, “Hey, wha’ happened?”
It tries to be a British version of a Christopher Guest film, but as directed by Debbie Isitt, it is nowhere near as funny as Best in Show, A Mighty Wind or Waiting for Guffman.