* – If you love music in any capacity, you better see this. Otherwise, the rest of the world can wait until streaming services carry it.
Despite this documentary being a huge love letter to one of greatest duos in the “Your Favorite Band’s Favorite Band” genre; It’s also about how two brothers endured the ebb and flow of a finicky industry while making the music they wanted to make. You could say they are what Pixar used to be, they make the stuff they want to hear/perform and by staying true to their vision, they have a dedicated, like-minded fan base.
Superfan and director Edgar Wright takes you on the chronological journey of Ron and Russel Mael, two born-and-bred Los Angelenos. It all started when they were kids and there’s no signs of it stopping. After this movie, count on their upcoming tour to be sold out in every city.
Sprinkled throughout Brothers are interviews with their former band members in Sparks’ numerous iterations, past producers (all famous) and most importantly (to me), the artists they’ve influenced. The latter was quite a list. A few choices I thought were thrown in for general audiences (Patton Oswalt, Jason Schwartzman) or shitty artists with no right to be associated with the Maels (Flea, Thurston Moore/Sonic Youth). Jack Antonoff is both. If you didn’t recognize his name: he’s the hack producer/writer behind Katy Perry and Taylor Swift and was in one-hit wonder Fun. However, I want people to enjoy this movie as Wright did round up a good selection of true fans. Members of…Duran Duran, Erasure, New Order, Visage, Franz Ferdinand, Jane Wiedlin, Beck, Björk, Faith No More, DJ Lance, Squeeze, Human League, Weird Al, Heaven 17 and Haircut 100. Believe me, I had quite a wish list as well. Here’s a few Wright egregiously missed: Ultravox (Midge Ure and Billy Currie), Garbage, John Carpenter, Jellyfish (Roger Manning Jr. and Andy Sturmer), They Might Be Giants, Fountains of Wayne (the late Adam Schlesinger), Jean-Michel Jarre, Goldfrapp, Les Rita Mitsouko (just Catherine Ringer, Fred Chichin passed away over a decade ago), Ween, Robert Smith, New Pornographers and Siouxie & the Banshees.
There’s archive footage of them on stage, in the studio, at UCLA, on American Bandstand (several times), SNL with Danny DeVito hosting, etc. There are cartoons illustrating their anecdotes. There’s their vast collection of music videos they’ve made since the Seventies. There’s news clips on what others thought of them, or mistook them to be. Trust me, you’ll laugh at the legend involving what John Lennon said to Ringo Starr when he first saw them on TV and when an American actress said something similar making fellow guest Pete Townshend laugh as he clarified what she really saw. My favorite laugh was finding out how they influenced one of the biggest Pop Stars of the 20th century via his video, you’ll see.
For my fellow fans, fear not. Wright made sure the Maels’ infamous sense of humor which has permeated their music since day one, is all over this movie.
- How they’ve put the Press back on their heels when asked stupid questions.
- How they’ve mocked record company executives who gave them notes.
- You see all their album covers, many have brilliant titles.
- The big finale in which you learn incredible facts about them.
Lastly, I loved how the documentary winds down with Russel & Ron ending their story (for now) on top of the world. Thanks to FFS (the joint Franz Ferdinand album), they now have a huge following in Latin America. They still sell out shows in the UK, Japan, Germany and their hometown of LA, probably NYC too. By the time I finally write this, their opus film Annette should be in theaters. It’s another triumph after they got shafted by Tim Burton the late Eighties and another French director they wanted to work with in the Seventies became too ill. Sparks may go down in history alongside Big Star, the Velvet Underground and the Sex Pistols in how they influenced musical humor, electronica and DIY, but they should be revered as much as Queen since they’ve outlast all three of those bands; they’re all in the cliché…They didn’t last long or have much success but everyone who saw them started a band.
I can’t wait to get this on Blu-Ray. See what had to be left on the cutting room floor. Being the music nerd I am and one of those people who wants to know a band’s influences, I applaud how Edgar Wright laid down the blueprint of what a documentary should be like. With the rise of streaming services’ ability to resurrect “failed” series, maybe Paramount+, VH-1’s parent, could reboot Behind the Music or Classic Albums to follow a similar format.
Alamo Extras: Live performance of “Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth,”; a string of their videos (mostly from the Seventies and early Eighties); all the soundtracks they’re on: Get Crazy, Heavenly Bodies, Bad Manners, Fright Night, Rad, Black Rain, Unlawful Entry, Knock Off, Kick Ass and Holy Motors; Edgar Wright’s intro to Sparks music which you can easily see on YouTube.