Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Screening: Monday 30 November 2009
USA 2008.Director: Sacha Gervasi.
Starring: Robb Reiner, Steve 'Lips' Kudlow, Lemmy.
Certificate: 15. 90 minutes.
Synopsis
At 14, best friends Robb Reiner and Steve 'Lips' Kudlow made a pact to rock together forever. Their band, Anvil, hailed as the ‘demi-gods of Canadian metal’ in the early 1980s, influenced a musical generation that includes Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, despite never becoming famous in its own right. But they have never given up.Now in their fifties, and following a disastrous European tour, Lips and Robb set off to record their 13th album in a final attempt to fulfil their boyhood dreams.
Director Sacha Gervasi has created an engrossing, artistic and often hilarious account of Anvil’s last shot at the big time that has led to comparisons with classic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap. We see them get lost in Prague, play to a handful of people in a Munich bar, record their 13th album at a scout camp in Deal and take part-time jobs in telesales to finance their quest for elusive fame and fortune.
However, despite the similarities to Tufnel and St Hubbins, Anvil’s hard-working members are real. (Incidentally, Robb is no relation to Spinal Tap director Rob Reiner.)
At its core, Anvil! is a timeless tale of survival, human endurance and the passion that it takes to keep striving for your dream.
The film is highly watchable, even if you have no interest in metal music. In fact, there is little of Anvil’s music in the film, Gervasi wanted to leave the band’s sound as a mystery until the end.
Though it is often very funny, what really turns Anvil! into documentary gold is the way that the film draws you into the band’s struggle emotionally. Only the most hard-hearted cynics could fail to warm to Lips and Robb. Lips has an endearing child-like naivety (‘After all’s been said and done, at least I can say that all has been said and done’), a contrast to Robb’s more thoughtful, intelligent presence.
By the closing stages, you will almost certainly be rooting for the success of a band that you were laughing at eighty minutes earlier. Audiences have been known to cheer out loud during screenings.
Many American documentaries are lucky to be shown outside New York, but such was the popular reaction to Anvil! that the film went on to be shown in 200 cities – making stars of Lips and Robb at last.
