Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)

I loved this documentary. Although, I also love They Might Be Giants. If you aren't a fan of the band, this movie might not be too fun to watch, but as a enthusiastic listener of TMBG, I really enjoyed watching Gigantic. It really captured the essence of the the band and was overall fun to watch. If you enjoy this movie, I recommend Direct From Brooklyn, which is a VHS of TMBG's music videos. Although, the DVD of Gigantic also features some music videos. The only complaint I have about Gigantic is that I would like to hear more about TMBG, but I suppose that is really the purpose of making a documentary about them. "And the truth is we don't know anything." -Ana Ng by They Might Be Giants

I have long valued the music of this group, though they seem to have been on a gradual slide since this was released. It's a very intelligent work. It has an effluence of dim exposition like in similar presentations, but stands apart in that it doesn't depend on same. It's quite self-aware and competently engineered, as a stylized annotation of this type of music.

If you read most dissertations on They Might Be Giants, it's a lot of stuff about whimsicality and the macabre. Hogwash. If that's the essence of these guys then they're no more notable than countless other musicians.

Their appeal lies entirely within their ethic. That is, the song subject is subservient to the orchestration and not vice versa. The result is an inverse of rigid songwriting standards. The energy of the songs is within the shifting layers of their composition, which is highly transitory (an explanation for this is overtly given in the film, and why the Giants chose this direction. Hint: it's in the segment about Dial-A-Song); the notes veer off trajectory from what listeners normally expect from pop music, because most of the time in pop the complex interaction of sounds is reduced to being a mere extension of the lyrics. Two dominating concepts are, turgid filler about love heartaches, or narrative story that steers the sound like a train. Blunt, unvaried, no creativity, no adventurousness.

With TMBG it's the opposite. The words hover at a distance from the instruments, sometimes above, sometimes beneath, sometimes in both places concurrently, always as discordant strands. Yes, colorful and evocative as fans often express but that isn't the only facet. And it's that antithesis of pop's bland sameness which the label execs tried to corner these two into adopting after they enjoyed some early success, and endures through tripe like Britney.

Most of the running commentary here struck me as facile; mundane espousals made funny by the commentators being totally sincere in their blather. Paradoxical that Syd is not and yet she is particularly tiresome. Same as her writing. You get much more sublimity just from the various recitals (by no less than Janeane Gorofalo!).

The director knows all this. His work here approaches greatness in how he mirrors the Giants aesthetic in concept and execution. He uses those bits of chatter as swatches and arranges them according to the requirements of the abstract fabric he's weaving. This shows a highly developed understanding of the "rock-doc" form.

One of the talking heads describes the band as the "vanguard of alternative," which illustrates the basic difference of this production vis-à-vis other rock-docs. A minor overview of the Hell's Kitchen scene, the arguments with record label execs, and a tidbit about coffee addiction replace rote enumerations of band member drama, rampant sex, and drugs. These are all explicitly referenced and made fun of.

But the most essential point of all is the flow. See how it careens forward and backward in chronology and off-topic, equivalent to the music itself. A passage here and there interrupted right in the middle with a long concert footage excerpt. Now back to the film. Now backtrack to a few years ago for a forgotten aside. Meticulously designed, yet an apparent jumble. That's where it's at.

Oh, and I do prefer John and John's output prior to the Band of Dans. But if you aren't familiar with these fellows I recommend you seek out their "Lincoln" LP before watching this. It's a prime example of how well they can layer and shift dissonant sounds throughout the listening space to arrive at something both tangential and harmonious. It is entirely what this film defines and is defined by.

Blake's rating: 3 (out of 4)

Let me start off by saying that i am a HUGE tmbg fan...i subscribed to tmbg unlimited, i go to their concerts, i even admin a tmbg site on the net. I think for rabid fans like me, this movie offers a little glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes, and does a nice job portraying the history of the band, which is something i can appreciate.

However, if i was not a tmbg fan before watching this movie, i'm not sure that this would be enough to make me run out and buy their cd's (or even download them off kazaa). Either you get this band, or you don't, and i don't see people who aren't already fans of the band being able to keep their interest and sit through the whole movie.

Then again, i might be wrong...

I'm not sure how this would play to someone who doesn't really love the band. The documentary really plays them up to be a big part of musical evolution, and perhaps they are, but I don't really see it that way. I remember seeing their videos on MTV and Nickelodeon, but it wasn't exactly like they were in heavy rotation. Ditto for the radio. I'm not sure that the doc would have held my interest if I wasn't already interested.

Having said that, I really liked this film. It's often times funny, and you really get a good sense for the two Johns, even if you don't really learn that much about them. It seems to me that this film could easily be twice the length. I would love to know more on every topic they touch on. It kind of feels like this is more of a movie to explain all of the weirdness that surrounds this band rather than documenting forward progress, but it is that very weirdness that is so intriguing. Learning the origins of the Stick and Dial-a-Song is great.

The one thing that I really don't like is the celebrities reading the song lyrics. It's just cheesy and boring. It really does nothing for the film.

I am a pretty die-hard TMBG fan. I enjoy this movie for that reason, but as a film it was a little lacking. My main complaint was the story telling. Though it did have the beginnings of a nice little story (which is something many documentaries forget to have), it somehow felt glossed over by the end.

I suppose, in part, this is due to a confidentiality agreement with Elektra, which they probably have. That was where much of the conflict lied.

Still, it was entertaining for TMBG fans, but I personally hope the DVD has the entire concert on it, that'd make the purchase worth it's value, well, immensely.