Edgar Wright (Baby Driver, Shaun of the Dead) has done me a great service by nudging me from Boomerism to The Sparks, a rock/pop/electronica duo who has been performing since the 1960’s. To say that the duo, two brothers, Ron and Russell Mael are creative is like saying Picasso used paint. Their avant-garde music was prescient (a song called Computer Girl came out in the late 60’s long before laptops were ubiquitous) as was their use of electronic melodies and beats which came way before the mainstream got it in the late 70’s.
As a film, Edgar Wright’s use of fast humorous clips, both animated and live action from copious decades, illustrate and add to the hilarity of the duo’s sardonic lyrics. Songs such as “I Have a Snap Shot of Your Aunt Maureen” to the more blatant “All I Do Lately is Dick Around” merely scratch the surface of the brothers’ wit. This doc truly must been seen to be appreciated since describing it at a granular level is literally like trying to get an alien to appreciate beach sand without ever seeing or stepping foot on it.
Edgar also helps prove that the power of cinema can not be understated as a life spring for creativity as the brothers both agree that Saturday cinema experiences and the burgeoning rock and roll genre helped propel them to experimentation and artistic fertility.
This film is a comedy wrapped in a music documentary and is worth every penny of admission.
