Every Time You Lose Your Mind: A Film About Failure
Band documentaries are, by design, for fans of the band. Nobody says "I'm gonna see if this band is any good" by watching a two hour documentary on them. Someone who watches one of these is already deeply immersed in the band, and wants to know more than the average Wikipedia article.
Every Time You Lose Your Mind is no different. Directed by the band's singer Ken Andrews, it charts the band's rather sudden rise from clubs to a major label contract in the 90's, their implosion due to drugs, and their reunion in the 2010's. Andrews does not hold back in his direction or production; the three core band members and two former band members all speak their minds, good and bad, as do peers, producers that worked with them, and celebrity fans like Margaret Cho and David Dastmalchian. The good times are celebrated, the bad times are rued, and the creative process is explored. There isn't really anything new or revolutionary as far as the direction of the film itself; talking heads, archival footage, your standard documentary stuff. The band's first run is given more time than the reunion era, partially due to the first run having their most celebrated album (which was released at the height of their drug use and only a year before their break-up), which is kind of disappointing, as I would've liked to have seen more discussion of the three reunion albums, but it's fine. I imagine, given they're all older and wiser and sober now that the modern run is, from a storytelling standpoint, less interesting. They persevered and conquered their demons, they picked up where they left off and have been going strong since, and that's that. If you're a fan, it's a good watch, and if you're not, it won't make a lot of sense.
Where ETYLYM drops the ball a little bit is in its over-effusive praise of the band. Failure was not a band appreciated in its original run. I was a teenager in the 90's. The alternative music scene was my thing. I wasn't plugged all the way into the underground, but I knew enough bands off the beaten path, and I didn't hear about Failure until a friend introduced me to them in the 2010's. I'm not alone in this regard. Their audience grew significantly after their break-up. They're not Taylor Swift, but they definitely got their flowers by the time they came back. They were ahead of their time with their sound; too progressive and spacey for the grunge scene, not hard enough for alt-rock or metal, too artistic for punk. Failure fans understand this. But ETYLYM keeps telling the viewer how amazing and special and cool they are, as if it's trying to sell them on the idea of Failure, and ... you know ... we're fans already. We bought in a while ago. It gets tiresome to hear a dozen different people shine their apples. There's also some editing choices I thought were awkward, like showing archival footage in a small box, only showing title cards for people once, or cuts while someone is talking to different angles that makes what they're saying feel chopped up and spliced back together, even though it's one continuous sentence.
ETYLYM is a solid rock doc, no question. I'm glad Failure got to tell their story their way, and they deserve all the praise. I enjoyed this, but I also see where it could've been better, even for fans. For non-fans, though, go listen to their music first. Start with their most celebrated album, Fantastic Planet. If it doesn't click, there's nothing for you here.
Every Time You Lose Your Mind is no different. Directed by the band's singer Ken Andrews, it charts the band's rather sudden rise from clubs to a major label contract in the 90's, their implosion due to drugs, and their reunion in the 2010's. Andrews does not hold back in his direction or production; the three core band members and two former band members all speak their minds, good and bad, as do peers, producers that worked with them, and celebrity fans like Margaret Cho and David Dastmalchian. The good times are celebrated, the bad times are rued, and the creative process is explored. There isn't really anything new or revolutionary as far as the direction of the film itself; talking heads, archival footage, your standard documentary stuff. The band's first run is given more time than the reunion era, partially due to the first run having their most celebrated album (which was released at the height of their drug use and only a year before their break-up), which is kind of disappointing, as I would've liked to have seen more discussion of the three reunion albums, but it's fine. I imagine, given they're all older and wiser and sober now that the modern run is, from a storytelling standpoint, less interesting. They persevered and conquered their demons, they picked up where they left off and have been going strong since, and that's that. If you're a fan, it's a good watch, and if you're not, it won't make a lot of sense.
Where ETYLYM drops the ball a little bit is in its over-effusive praise of the band. Failure was not a band appreciated in its original run. I was a teenager in the 90's. The alternative music scene was my thing. I wasn't plugged all the way into the underground, but I knew enough bands off the beaten path, and I didn't hear about Failure until a friend introduced me to them in the 2010's. I'm not alone in this regard. Their audience grew significantly after their break-up. They're not Taylor Swift, but they definitely got their flowers by the time they came back. They were ahead of their time with their sound; too progressive and spacey for the grunge scene, not hard enough for alt-rock or metal, too artistic for punk. Failure fans understand this. But ETYLYM keeps telling the viewer how amazing and special and cool they are, as if it's trying to sell them on the idea of Failure, and ... you know ... we're fans already. We bought in a while ago. It gets tiresome to hear a dozen different people shine their apples. There's also some editing choices I thought were awkward, like showing archival footage in a small box, only showing title cards for people once, or cuts while someone is talking to different angles that makes what they're saying feel chopped up and spliced back together, even though it's one continuous sentence.
ETYLYM is a solid rock doc, no question. I'm glad Failure got to tell their story their way, and they deserve all the praise. I enjoyed this, but I also see where it could've been better, even for fans. For non-fans, though, go listen to their music first. Start with their most celebrated album, Fantastic Planet. If it doesn't click, there's nothing for you here.
Mini Review: Band documentaries are, by design, for fans of the band. Nobody says "I'm gonna see if this band is any good" by watching a two hour documentary on them. Someone who watches one of these is already deeply immersed in the band, and wants to know more than the average Wikipedia article. Every Time You Lose Your Mind is no different. Directed by the band's singer Ken Andrews, it charts the band's rather sudden rise from clubs to a major label...