I suppose I'm a little biased when it comes to talking about documentaries about music, more so when it comes to documentaries about rock. I am just a complete sucker for them. I love rock + I love cinema = I love "rockumentaries" – even when is not a masterpiece. So it was pretty obvious that I was going to love It Might Get Loud (Davis Guggenheim, 2008). And I did. I did even though the way the film is put together –divided in chapters – doesn't really work for me and despite the fact that I think it doesn't go deep in the subjects that matter the most nor shows the relationship built between the three characters right until the end and very briefly.
Anyway, I did love it and here is why: The official synopsis is "A documentary on the electric guitar from the point of view of three significant rock musicians: the Edge, Jimmy Page and Jack White". I know, I KNOW. The choice of the characters is controversial. Besides Jimmy Page, who is unanimity, The Edge and Jack White are not the guitarist that come to mind when most people think about the greatest of their kind - which you sort of expect and want when you think about a documentary about the electric guitar. But I liked the choices, they are bold and you have to bear in mind that Jimmy Page is the executive producer, so they were pretty much his choices. Then, like the synopsis points out, this is more about different perspectives and it is not about great guitarist, but about the guitar. So, the Edge and Jack White end up being perfect. Their approach to the guitar couldn't be more different.
Jack White is more of a purist. He likes the basic sounds of the guitars, he doesn't mess with it that much. He doesn't even really care if the guitar is broken or out of tune. Right at the other corner, creating an opposition, there is The Edge. He loooves the special effects, distortions, pedals and everything else that technology can do to the sound of a guitar. Finally, in the middle, balancing things out, you find one of the Gods: Jimmy Page (who I don't think needs any sort of introduction even to people who don't like rock). And it all works. It works not only because the script is neatly put together, weighing and balancing the differences, but because somewhere around the beginning of the film something becomes very clear: despite being about the guitar and despite being very different men from different times of the rock history, they share their love for music and their desire to change the world through it. So, the film becomes much more about music and passion and there is no way you can be immune and dislike it.
