Gorillaz: Reject False Icons

With not much information about this documentary and the great idea of screening it in cinemas one night only around the globe, I expected something special or at least very juicy in terms of fan service. But... it's just a collection of clips during the Humanz tour and some very sparse and out of context insight on some tracks. They clearly wanted to give some use to a lot of moments they had recorded and decided to make a documentary out of it, but with no thread, no structure, not much attention put into pacing, not much input on the songwriting and actual music making, and a lot of typical behind the scenes recordings of "oh man, it's great making music with these guys, Gorillaz is my family"... yea, you can tell that the people who'll like this the most is precisely Albarn as his friends. It's like if I made a montage of my vacation, me and my buddies will love it, but even if you know me you'll have a hard time connecting with it if you weren't there.

I won't be too harsh on this since this was later uploaded to Youtube for free, but I was one of those who went to the cinema just for the idea of a Gorillaz movie and it's not the same to watch something like this while it's in the background in the comfort of your home, going for some snacks, chill out and so, than watching it in cinemas where you have to stay on your seat with no pause button and with the expectation of watching something more noteworthy... yea, it wasn't the best. Not a horrible experience by any means, and I'm sure people at home will be more ok with it, but my viewing experience was kinda lackluster.

If this was cut down to a 10-20 minute clip on their facebook page it would have been great.

There was zero overarching story/meaning behind it, just a bunch of artists recording and performing 2 albums. which could have been interesting but since there were no interviews, no meaningful interactions, zero in depth explanation of anything... it wasn't.

It felt exactly like someone going on holiday and just filming a 20second clip every day and stitching it together when they got home. But instead of just showing it to whoever was on the vacation and some friends and laughing at the memories and antics they made it 1.5 hours long, charged 16 euros, hyped it up by being all mysterious, and bored the crap out of everyone watching.

I was there with a friend and long term fan of the gorillaz (since album 1) and the first thing he said to me when the lights came on was 'I tought it was never gonna end! Finally!'.

I think that says enough...

I was underwhelmed. I could hardly hear what people were saying, I guess Grace Jones could not make an appearance (bummer, not really, but that would have helped justify the $17 ticket) and the after credit footage was not memorable.

To reiterate on the audio issue, the music was not loud enough! Feel Good Inc. sounds great at any volume, but I really wanted to be blown away!

After the one-night-only showing of Reject False Icons, I felt elated. I had just witnessed footage of my favorite band over 2 years as if I were a fly-on-the-wall. We got to see content not meant for the everyday viewer, but as fans, got the inside scoop all thanks to Denholm Hewlett. It's almost like Denholm is a fan of the band himself, and he knew exactly the kind of stuff we'd want to see... 😏

The name, Reject False Icons, is a reference to Phase 2, which I think is alluding to the fact that the film is solely about the "humanz" involved in the behemoth project that is Gorillaz. The film focuses mainly on Jamie, Damon, and the live band, however, a smattering of Jamie's colorful art, flashy music video footage, and live visuals keeps us entertained in the transitions. One unfortunate note is that the older music video footage did not seem to be ready for a giant screen, as much of it was still low-res.

The documentary opens up with an homage of the many phases of Gorillaz, finally landing on Jamie's post-apocalyptic/surreal art for Humanz, set to "Tranzformer." The movie is then broken up into three acts - essentially the 'making of' Humanz, Humanz on tour, and The Now Now on tour. Bizarre and cool interludes from Ben Mendelsohn help break up the narrative of the film.

To call the movie a traditional documentary is a bit of a stretch. It lacked narrative and was instead a collection of clips and dialogue (with each scene being no more than about 30 seconds long), documenting the Humanz and TNN tours as they progressed. That being said, the film was an absolute treat for die-hard fans of the band. We got to see and hear many early demos from Humanz and The Now Now - including a beautiful rendition of Busted and Blue by Kelela, a banging version of Phoenix on the Hill recorded in Jamaica, and what's potentially a previously-unheard TNN track, Founding Fathers.

There were also some very "meme-able" momentz coming from Mr. Albarn. I was delighted by the laugh my theatre got from watching him shuffle across the street in his pajamas, Smoggy declaring he had "a bit of a rough night."

My wishlist for the next Gorillaz documentary is perhaps something more interview based, where fans can learn more about the behind-the-scenes thinking that goes into making Gorillaz. For example, how Damon and co. select collaborators, and explaining who the collaborators are to people who aren't YET Gorillaz fans.

In comparison to Bananaz, this film comes across as far more polished and professional - reflecting a similar the journey that Gorillaz have taken these last couple of years. On the last night of the tour, Damon thanks the musicians & crew, saying their act had become "top class." While Bananaz may have been better as a look into the process and history, Reject False Icons was an absolute feast of material for fans to geek out on.

As a longtime fan of Gorillaz and Damon's past work, I was expecting something extravagant from this, however it just felt like an extended tour video. the irony in a title like "reject false icons" and the subsequent applause was mind-boggling. don't get me wrong, I loved hearing some classic Gorillaz (M1-A1, Latin Simone, and O Green World especially) but I know anyone who wasn't a mega fan wouldve been quite bored--this includes my stepdad who sadly was roped into this theatre.

3.5/10 rounded to a 4 for benefit of the doubt