It Might Get Loud
Posted on September 3, 2009 at 3:50 pm
A-| Lowest Recommended Age: | High School |
| MPAA Rating: | Rated PG for mild thematic elements, brief language and smoking |
| Profanity: | Brief strong language |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Smoking |
| Violence/ Scariness: | None |
| Diversity Issues: | None |
| Date Released to Theaters: | September 4, 2009 |
It goes to 11.
Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”) has made a documentary featuring three generations of guitar gods: Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), The Edge (U2), and Jack White (The White Stripes). But it is not about the musicians. It is about guitars, and passion, and hearing, and sticking it to the man, and art, and music, and the sublime that brings all of those things together. It is a joyous yowl from the depths of existence that soars to the ears of the celestial choirs, where it makes them pause and smile and, if such a thing is possible for angels, envy the humans who get to make such sounds and even those of us who get to listen to them.
We spend time with each of these musicians. The archival clips are surprising and delightful and it is pure pleasure to see these men return to places and instruments that are especially meaningful to them and to listen in as they talk to each other and demonstrate their comments with riffs and techniques. They say that successful musical performers fall into three categories: rock star, performance artist, and musician. These three men are above all musicians. At times they seem to embody music itself, with aural imperatives mortals can only gasp at. Their utter commitment is moving and inspiring. Rock on.