Gorman Bechard's has created a unique type of music doc here, telling the story of cult-favorite Minneapolis-based rock band The Replacements exclusively via talking heads interviews with the group's fans and contemporaries. No-one from the group themselves is interviewed, nor are any clips, songs, or even photos used.
What could have been an experimental-seeming gimmick actually really draws the viewer in as the interview subjects recount the band's rise to prominence, their anarchic live shows, and the musical envelope-pushing of their early records and subsequent "commercial sound" of their later ones.
The roster of talking heads includes a handful of celebrity admirers like "The Kids in the Hall"s Dave Foley, George Wendt and Tom Arnold, contemporaries like Husker Du's Grant Hart, younger musicians who were influenced by the group like members of the Hold Steady, the Gaslight Anthem, and the Goo Goo Dolls, and a multitude of graying record engineers, punk club promoters, record store owners, college station DJs, and others. Collectively, they paint a vivid portrait of the group. Despite being only passingly familiar with the band, I found this approach deeply involving; much more so than the usual "Behind the Music" approach. Well and truly, a unique documentary.
What could have been an experimental-seeming gimmick actually really draws the viewer in as the interview subjects recount the band's rise to prominence, their anarchic live shows, and the musical envelope-pushing of their early records and subsequent "commercial sound" of their later ones.
The roster of talking heads includes a handful of celebrity admirers like "The Kids in the Hall"s Dave Foley, George Wendt and Tom Arnold, contemporaries like Husker Du's Grant Hart, younger musicians who were influenced by the group like members of the Hold Steady, the Gaslight Anthem, and the Goo Goo Dolls, and a multitude of graying record engineers, punk club promoters, record store owners, college station DJs, and others. Collectively, they paint a vivid portrait of the group. Despite being only passingly familiar with the band, I found this approach deeply involving; much more so than the usual "Behind the Music" approach. Well and truly, a unique documentary.