Spoonatects
Am i the only one who thinks........Average?
Forumrxes
Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.
Beulah Bram
A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
Python Hyena
A Mighty Wind (2003): Dir: Christopher Guest / Cast: Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Bob Balaban, Fred Willard, Michael McKean: Fascinating comic documentary about folk music. Title suggests an emerging of something that once was and will be again. After a folk music promoter dies his son Jonathan decides to reunite talent he represented for a benefit concert. Among those artists are the Folksmen who reunite after thirty years. The Street Singers are very passionate about their involvement. Finally there is Mitch and Mickey who sing "A Kiss At the End of the Rainbow." This opens an interesting subplot regarding Mitch's split with Mickey and the nervous breakdown that followed. Their signature song always concluded with a kiss. Great setup with often amusing interviews with participants. Directed by Christopher Guest who previously made Waiting for Guffman. Scene stealing performances by Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara as Mitch and Mickey whose scenes provide the best humour. Bob Balaban plays Jonathan who frantically struggles to arrange this event. Fred Willard is always funny and here he makes an appearance and laughs at his own jokes. Then we have Michael McKean jamming away with the Folksman alongside Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer. Wonderful portrayal of folk music and a time that will breeze through one more time. Score: 10 / 10
thrall7
First of all, I am of an age to have lived through much of the folk music era that this movie brilliantly spoofs. That said, it is a spot-on portrayal of the music, the performers, and the attitudes of the time. There was great attention to details, even including the look of mock album covers for the various acts and the vehicle that transports one of the acts from Vermont to NYC. It is filled with humor, as is the case with almost all of Christopher Guest and company's films. The cast is terrific from top to bottom, including many of the smaller parts such as Ed Begley, Jr.'s, role as a TV producer. Something that truly impressed me is the fact that all of the songs, and many of the musical arrangements, were written by the cast members. While most of them don't actually play, they do sing - and pretty well. I'm not sure that younger viewers appreciated just how good this movie captured an era. They may have related more to the earlier collaboration of the some of the principal actors in "This is Spinal Tap" because it was about a heavy metal band. All in all, this is maybe Christopher Guest's best movie.
Framescourer
An easy-going and pleasant comedy. Folk music isn't so much the target of Guest/Levy's satire as the documentary form (I felt The Last Waltz well and truly lampooned here). I also like the discreet way in which the passing of time from the folk heyday is marked. Sex is a licit topic of open discussion for many of the protagonists, though it seems odd or clunky to modern characters' sensibility. There's also a wonderful written set piece in which the term "nowtro" replaces retro (don't ask, just watch).That said, I felt that the film was probably a bit underwritten, relying on the technical aptitude of the cast (which is assured). Either the manner in which characters behave towards one another is based on their histories - in which case there's not quite enough backstory - or the idea is to create vignettes of artistic caprice based soley in the present, in which case it felt undercooked.Nonetheless, and in no small measure to a beautifully composed and performed digetic soundtrack, the film is celebratory. An easily overlooked wholesomeness to 60s American music history is well-honoured. 5/10
djdekok
I was working the children's stage at Musikfest in Bethlehem PA a few years ago, and the local folk music society was getting ready to go. They seemed a self-important, pompous group. I kiddingly asked them if they'd seen "A Mighty Wind" and got looks of stony silence from every single performer in the group. That's all I needed to know. Their instrumentals were ragged, they didn't sing that well, Why am I telling you this? For the simple reason that "A Mighty Wind" spoofs these goofuses perfectly, poetically, practically every way they can be. As in "This is Spinal Tap" and (the even funnier IMHO)"Best in Show", they capture the quirks of the offbeat characters who take themselves and their avocation a little TOO seriously.
