TigerHeron

I saw this film at the Mill Valley Film Festival. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. I was worried it would be a long promotional video for Metallica, but it was a real documentary. The movie travels around the world, showcasing fans everywhere from Botswana to Iraq to Ukraine to South America. The stories they tell about how Metallica helped get them through personal struggles, tragedies and wars are riveting. I cried a lot. The film also manages to summarize the band's history by spanning the early days when they started out with one fan to the present.

Sociologically the film is interesting in that it shows what some people might term cult behavior. Occasionally a psychologist or someone similar pops up to add an explanatory note. I'm a big Metallica fan myself but I suppose there are different types of fans. As much as I love the band and their music, I would not spend six figures on their shows and merchandise nor am I likely to go to multiple shows in a row. It appears that for some of the fans, the bond they have with other fans is their social life.

The film portrays a very diverse fandom, and I am sure that was deliberate. If you spend time with Metallica fans in real life though you will learn that the majority are still white men. I think there's a different movie out there to be made about metal culture and its macho attitude. I feel like this movie was trying to be an antidote to that without addressing the issue directly. I guess that's great although it does leave out any responsibility the band might have for attitudes of the past. I guess I'm ok with letting the past be the past...

Although this movie is a special treat for Metallica fans I think anyone who likes documentaries would appreciate it.

This movie takes a little while to get into, because you're not sure where the story is going. Be patient. The story is complex and multilayered. It is highly topical. The acting is stellar.

The story introduces a character named Tiffany (Ani) who is an editor at a magazine that is clearly a parody of Cosmopolitan or Glamour. She is engaged to be married to a wealthy young man but is also trying to get a more prestigious job at the New York Times. A documentary filmmaker wants to interview her for a documentary about a school shooting that happened when she was in private high school. A survivor who became a gun control activist has been accusing her of being involved in the shooting, although this was never proven. Meanwhile, Ani has been keeping her version of the events private. The truth is slowly unraveled. The movie explores shaming, bullying and silencing. I only wish the filmmakers had left Los Angeles at some point in their lives to discover that New York women don't totter around on spike heels nor do they wear thigh high dresses.