‘Anvil! The Story of Anvil’ is Best Documentary of 2009 to Date

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Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Abramorama’s “Anvil!: The Story of Anvil” has been building buzz nearly as loud as the heavy metal featured in this excellent documentary, the best of the year so far and such a good film that I can nearly guarantee that you won’t see a better doc for the next eight months.

“Anvil!: The Story of Anvil” has the same quirky charm as a lot of breakthrough non-fiction hits of recent years like “Spellbound,” “Young@Heart,” and “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” but the movies it will most remind viewers of are “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” “American Movie,” and “This is Spinal Tap”. Although, contrary to some ridiculous web conspiracy theories out there, Anvil is 100% real.

Anvil co-founders Robb Reiner (L) and Steve “Lips” Ludlow contemplate their band’s future in a scene from Sacha Gervasi’s feature documentary, Anvil! The Story Of Anvil.
Photo credit: Brent J. Craig

It’s been great to watch the momentum of this little movie that could as the film has expanded across the country. It opens tomorrow, April 24th, 2009 at the Music Box Theatre here in Chicago. It’s going to be one of the most widely beloved docs of the last few years. Jump on the bandwagon. It’s really building up speed.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil Photo credit: Ross Halfin

Anvil is the great rock band who never had a breakout hit. The film about them opens with a series of Anvil’s peers, including Slash of Guns ‘n’ Roses, Lars Ulrich of Metallica, Lemmy of Motorhead, and more, discussing in nearly awed tones the power of Anvil. They played their hit, “Metal on Metal,” in front of thousands of fans and watched as every other band was picked up by the heavy metal wave that dominated radio and MTV in the early and mid-’80s.

While most of the bands who shared a bill with Anvil have gone on to be superstars, sitting around counting their royalty checks, the two leads of Anvil - Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner - can barely make ends meet. They go on depressing European tours, where they play to a few dozen people at a time and rarely get paid. They have made twelve albums and still haven’t broken through. They fight each other regularly, but they’re going to catch that dream, even if it kills them.

It’s ironic that a documentary about Anvil is going to give this band the fame they never found on a stage. But that’s not what the film itself is about. In the actual movie, director Sacha Gervasi follows Anvil on that aforementioned European “tour,” a disaster that lights a fire under Robb and Lips to make their 13th album their absolute best. They get together with the ’80s producer who got them closest to the flame of celebrity and can once again see the light at the end of the tunnel, even if they know that age and their financial situation are limiting the future opportunities they may have in a studio.

“Anvil! The Story of Anvil” is very, very funny, but it also brilliantly illustrates the human ability to chase our dreams long after we “should have” stopped. Lips and Robb have been going through the same heartbreaking grind for decades, long after many people would have given up. Some will shake their head and say that they wasted their lives. Some will wish they had found the nerve to chase their dreams just as long and just as hard.

Anvil co-founder and lead guitarist Lips strums for concertgoers in a scene from Anvil! The Story of Anvil. Photo credit: Brent J. Craig

It’s the eternal question - When do you give up on a dream? And how do you do it when it seems just around every single corner? Can you really blame Anvil for giving rock superstardom one more try?

Gervasi has made a perfectly-paced and edited documentary. So many directors would have taken this real-life Spinal Tap and turned them into a joke. At the same time, the band could have been deified as the great rock artists you’ve never heard of. Gervasi walks the line of someone who is clearly a fan of the band but also recognizes the humorous and heartbreaking tones of their life story. He neither ridicules nor idolizes them. He leaves that up to you. Take from it what you will. Everyone will find something to take from the documentary of the year to date.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com