Director: David Grohl
MPAA Rating: NR
Score: 6/10
Dave Grohl tackles filmmaking in his directorial debut Sound City, a documentary styled film that proposes to tell the story of one of the more nuanced/blessed recording studios in music history. As the film progresses, however, filmmaking tackles him right back.
Grohl has a spirited endeavor in sight, and he tells his story with the kind of enthusiasm that only the inspired can deliver. The only thing that is unclear is what the enthusiasm is actually reflecting. Is Grohl in love with the history of the studio? Yes he certainly is. Does he have an opportunity to tell that story? With Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Trent Reznor, and a plethora of others including himself (this is the studio that Nevermind was recorded at after all) in the mix, he’s got plenty of opportunity. So where, exactly, does the story get so off track? At some point we lose the focus of our director’s intention only to gain his subjective point of view as the ‘guy who wins the board’. Yes, I am talking about the famous Neve special order board that was baptized by first recording Buckingham and Nicks before Fleetwood Mac even introduced themselves.
Things become murky because we lose the thread ,in part because of rough edits and poor tempo, and the result threatens our connection to the heart of the film. That heart is a story about the music of the analog tape era and the business of recording it, of holding out against the digital revolution for as long as possible. Eventually, the business of Sound City goes under, its employees are left with nothing and we witness some real emotion, but as far as we know, the place simply evaporates. We don’t get the time in the story to morn this moment, as we are whisked off into Grohl’s supreme pleasure in buying the gear from the studio. Something doesn’t play right in the transition, and we are left to holding the bag, while Grohl is rushing off to victory. Of course it’s cool in some respect, judging by the oohing and ahhing of the audience as the camera pans left to reveal McCartney jamming in the studio with Grohl and the rest of the Foo Fighters. I won’t lie, I drooled among them. But even if Grohl has a mission to record an album with all these musical greats through a tape device they all love and respect, tacking all the jam sessions onto the end of a film about this studio robs us all a bit from caring about what happens to the studio, the era, and the people who gave their lives to it.
While we left Sound City somewhere in the middle of the film, what we do gain is at least an initial impression of the quality of musician it took to make the kind of music that tape devices required. We see live tracking in action with original footage from recording sessions with Petty and Cash, and are provided with an incredible sound track that only a place as special as Sound City could have created. Grohl won’t go down in history for documenting the legacy well, but he certainly has the time of his life getting to play with his musical heroes on this project, and, for what its worth, he did raise the story of this place off of the shelves, and out into the world where it belongs.
