- Director
- Edgar Wright
- Rating
- R (United States)
- Running Time
- 135 minutes
- Release Date
- June 18th, 2021
Overall Score
Rating Summary
The Sparks Brothers is a documentary covers the lives and careers of brothers Ron and Russell Mael, known colloquially as the pop rock duo Sparks, featuring interviews from the Maels themselves, as well as their high-profile contributors and admirers.
Documentaries about musicians or singers can sometimes feel like hagiographies that wax all over the highlights of their career, and give broad examinations of the aspects of their personas that the audiences love. Sometimes they might shy away from the darker moments in their life, or particular flaws they have. As such, these sorts of films tend to feel ephemeral or incomplete. Recent films such as Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry spoke to the psyche of those of her generation, not to mention showing us smaller things like her relationship with her family, her songwriting process, and her attitude towards things like those. With a band as niche yet widely respected as Sparks, this documentary has the task of introducing them to a whole new generation, connecting the dots to help audiences figure out where they might’ve heard of Sparks in the past, remind their fanbase yet again why they connected with them, how they fit into every decade they’ve worked, as well as the viewpoint as mindset of the brothers themselves.
If the documentary ever veers on feeling too self-aware for its own good, it brushes aside that concern with an infectious, upbeat energy that will definitely hook most viewers in. The fact that the Mael brothers were inspired by watching old serials and French cinema was a fun bit of information and that can be seen in their work throughout their careers. Meanwhile, interviews with various celebrities showed how the Sparks inspired them in some way or another. One of those was Weird Al, who wrote “Virus Alert” to parody the Sparks musical style. The interviews felt varied enough to keep from feeling tiresome. The Mael brothers’ sense of humor as they jokingly answered questions at the beginning of the documentary was another fun touch.
The most interesting aspect of The Sparks Brothers was watching the various phases the Sparks brothers experienced, displaying their cleverness and chameleonic nature. They fit right in with the counterculture of the late 60s and early 70s, then the dance music of the late 70s, then the new wave of the 80s, then the techno-club music of the 90s, and just doing their own thing from there on. Never once do they lose their ear for catchy melodies and engrossing creativity. Audiences can see their appreciation for a vast variety of musical styles that they incorporate as well as the people they collaborate with, such as Giorgio Moroder and Jane Wiedlin.
If there’s any particular criticism to make against the film involves its length which eventually became tiresome by the end, if only for the feeling that there were some aspects that could’ve been cut out as they didn’t feel necessary to the its overall narrative but in the end, director Edgar Wright has crafted a loving, engaging, and nostalgic documentary that appeals both to the loyal fanbase while introducing them to others who may not have heard of them before.
still courtesy of Focus Features
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