loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies (2006)

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

If you didn't know about the pixies, this isn't your chance to find out more and that's a good thing. Why? Well if you didn't discover their greatness on your own, which is the only way you could do it back in the day really, this film will not convince you of that, only being a fan of their music will.This review is not directed at anyone in particular's review on this film but, you're COMPLETELY missing the point if you watch this film with your arms folded, in order to be proved that this was and still is a great band in Alternative music's history. You want to know more about them? Well, that's what the internet is for and you can research any information you want.A completely necessary viewing by any Pixies fan. Lots of live footage. Candid remarks and statements by the band and in particular the band member's own views on it's later meltdown. And I love the end when they show some home movies of the band in slow motion, it looks like when they were on tour for Doolittle in 1989. The DVD contains footage not seen on TV like Kim Deal and Frank Black visiting Sigur Ros in their studio in Iceland.

Some people complain about this, expecting an episode of "Behing the Music" but none of that is forthcoming. Really this is just a live concert, but it is interesting to see the in between footage because almost nothing happens. For any other documentary this can be a hindrance but for these guys it is somewhat fitting, it is like watching a Jim Jarmusch movie or something, with those big wide open spaces of non event. It really makes you appreciate the truly great musical events on stage. They are all fantastic musicians, even if Deal is a little lacking on the technique on the bass, she has a beautiful voice and great bass lines.There's no real revelations, other than the fact that it proves my theory that band reunions are mostly about money because of all the illegal downloading (the Pixies drummer confirms this). In the case of the Pixies, this seems to be a good thing because they obviously are as good as they ever were and other than Kim Deal, don't have anything really going for them individually. I would have liked to have learned more about the band but it's obvious that these guys aren't talking much about their past, they are seem way too cool for this (except maybe the drummer, who is great but kind of nerdy). The title loudQUIETloud has double meaning, it is at one time about the movie itself, the loud on stage performances and quiet backstage areas. It is also about the grunge movement that these guys help develop, personified by Nirvana, play a quiet verse, hit a distortion pedal and then scream a chorus, then turn off the pedal for the verse (which, ironically, none of their songs do). If you think about it this way, the movie is actually quiet a profound experiment and needs to be appreciated as a gestalt and not picked apart for not revealing "secrets" of the band. Maybe there are no secrets.

The film loudQUIETloud fails to be an effective documentary for several reasons. The first failure is that the filmmaker does nothing to justify the making of this documentary—the film is so devoid of background information or historical context that, for someone without extensive prior knowledge of the Pixies, there is nothing to suggest that the Pixies are important or interesting enough to merit documenting their comeback. The filmmaker makes the audacious claim that the Pixies are among the most influential bands of all-time, and maybe they are—but the film does nothing to prove this or show how or why they are influential. The opening quote from Nirvana's Kurt Cobain is the only time in the film where we are given a sense of the Pixies' impact on modern pop music. Where are the interviews with music historians, music critics, or other musicians that would validate and define the Pixies' influence? Where are the excerpts from Rolling Stone articles about the Pixies—during their heyday, their breakup, their absence, and their reunion? Surely if the Pixies were indeed 'one of the most influential bands of all-time,' then these secondary sources would be overflowing with information that the filmmaker could have used to place in the Pixies in the context of modern music for viewers who aren't already familiar. Yet there is not ONE secondary source interview, not one article quoted—the film consists entirely of interviews with band members, live concert footage, and interviews with the band's family and fans. In this way, loudQUIETloud feels like little more than a puff piece, a made-for-the-fans DVD of the tour released by the band itself. If you are looking for live concert footage of the Pixies, loudQUIETloud does just fine. If you are interested in a thought-provoking, intelligent documentary, loudQUIETloud falls flat on its face. I knew almost nothing about the Pixies before watching loudQUIETloud, and now having seen it, I still feel as though I know nothing about them. Why did the Pixies breakup? The documentary cites 'creative differences and tension,' a generic answer that could probably be used for hundreds of bands. Why did the Pixies get back together? The documentary cites money and 'it just feeling right' as the reasons for the reunion—again, these reasons are painfully dull and provide none of the insight that is the purpose of a good documentary. What is the title's significance? Other than my own inference that loudQUIETloud refers to the band's path from popularity to obscurity and back to popularity, I am given no other clues as to what the title is meant to mean. Most importantly, the film fails to answer the question of why the Pixies were significant and influential, and left me angry and frustrated that I had spent 90 minutes on what, from my perspective, might as well have been some random garage band.For the hardcore Pixies fan, loudQUIETloud may be sufferable since it gives viewers ample face-time with the band members themselves. However, for those who don't particularly know or care about the Pixies already, loudQUIETloud is among the most hopelessly ineffective documentaries I have ever seen.

I had the pleasure of attending the NYC premier of loudQUIETloud: a Film about the Pixies, at the Tribeca Film Festival on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006.The film documents the successful 2004 reunion of the Pixies and in the process gives the viewer a rare glimpse at the people behind the music.I am nearly 40 years old, and have been a Pixies fan for nearly half of that time. The thing that always struck me funny about being a Pixies fan is this: first, Pixies fans have an almost insane love of their music, and second, most fans have no idea of what the people in the band are like. This film does a great job in addressing both of these points.You get to watch as the band takes their first steps in the rehearsal studio, Kim Deal resorts to listening to her parts on an iPod to get the chord changes right, through their first live show in Minneapolis where the crowd goes absolutely wild. "Did you see that? Those people were freaking out! ", said Kim during a backstage break.The film goes on to show the band members in their day-to-day lives, Joey and Charles managing their careers and young families, Kim dealing with sobriety with the help of her twin sister Kellie, and Dave coping with his father's illness and death. All in all, they seem like four ordinary people. The thing that makes them extraordinary is when they take the stage together; something happens that I can best describe as magic. The concert footage in the film is beautifully shot, and the band sounds better than ever. The Pixies are older, wiser and a little rounder, but they still know how to blow the house away.The question of "are you going to record a new album" was posed to the band during the film and the answers were interesting. Charles said that he was still in the song writing business, and it sounded like he was open to a new album. He then went on to say that it would probably be best if they started over from scratch, maybe change their name to the "Vomit Squad" and start playing small clubs again, that would be the most honest way to do it.You know what? That sounds good to me. "I'll take four tickets for Vomit Squad's Upchuck world tour 2007, please."