Despite it’s steady rise in popularity over the past 10 years or so, I’ve grown tired of all these doom & gloom docs extolling how we’re poisoning the planet or how I’m heading for an early grave because I’m not eating enough organically grown beetroot. After watching Davis Guggenheim’s (Director of the one of best known gloom & doom documentary of all time, An Inconvenient Truth) tribute to the guitar, It Might Get Loud, I could see we have something that isn’t quite a doc- it’s more of a love letter. In the age of Guitar Hero that seems to simultaneously deify and trivialize the guitar’s role in rock & roll – this movie brings all the steak to the sizzle.
It Might Get Loud centres itself around a “guitar summit” between legendary 6 string wizard Jimmy Page, U2′s axeman The Edge, and Raconteurs frontman and multiple felon Jack White. This meeting of the minds offers the chance for these three guitar gods share a few tips and tricks of the trade while playing eachother’s songs and sharing stories about how they came to be masters of the axe. Interwoven around the summit, is an exploration of their lives taking us on a journey to Dublin, Detroit, the English countryside and through all kinds of footage and photos of past performances. Davis Guggenheim delivers a clear picture of who these people are and where they come from with the help of award winning cinematographer Guillermo Navarro who takes us to such places as Headley Grange where Led Zeppelin recorded Led Zeppelin IV, the seaside cottage where U2 rehearsed for War, and even into Jack White’s attic where he composes a performs a song for us on the spot.
I’ve always considered myself lucky to have been surrounded by musicians most of my life, even if I barely qualify as one myself. Watching these masters talking to eachother, I know what the vibe in that room must be like, the only thing I could never know is the intensity of it, the crackling electricity between the three of them. There were tears streaming down my cheeks as I watched Jack and Edge watch Jimmy play “Whole Lotta Love” – the looks on their faces, grinning in the kind of way that Pooh Bear grins at a pot of honey. It Might Get Loud is able to convey that palpable passion for music shared between these men, and rewards you for engaging yourself in the dicussion.
The Verdict: This is the best documentary I’ve seen all year, most especially because I actually enjoyed it. If you even have a passing interest in any of these musicians or in the guitar at all, I cannot recommend this movie enough. It was such a rewarding experience, on par with Doug Pray’s Scratch. Absolutely a keeper.
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