Every year there are so many documentaries about musicians that it sometimes feels as if we will surely run out. We of course all know that will never be the case, and in this landscape of film distribution, documentaries like these are the easiest sells so it’s hard to blame the makers. In 2016 alone we’ve see films about The Beatles, Nick Cave, Oasis, Frank Zappa, and the late Sharon Jones. Jim Jarmusch has released Gimme Danger about Iggy Pop and The Stooges and there has even been yet another Rolling Stones doc called The Rolling Stones Ole Ole Ole!: A Trip Across Latin America that I never knew existed.
This week we’re looking at two more that are on this year’s Oscar eligibility long-list and which focus on polar-opposite worlds of music: rhythm and blues icon Mavis Staple and Japanese hard-rock phenomenon X.
Last year when I saw What Happened, Miss Simone? I immediately knew it would be an Oscar contender. It eventually was, and probably would have won were it not for that other female musical doc, Amy. Jessica Edwards’ Mavis! covers similar terrain – that of the emergence of black musicians into the mainstream and their place amid the civil rights movement – but hasn’t the dramatic thrust of last year’s Netflix doc with its late subject’s antagonistic politics, or even Barbara Kopple’s Miss Sharon Jones! which found its pathos following Jones’ battle with cancer.
Mavis is a far less prickly character to Simone and hasn’t the emotional hook of Jones. Mavis! then ultimately has to settle for being a simple, traditional biography of the performer who became famous with songs such as “Respect Yourself” and “I’ll Take You There”. Which is fine, I guess; she is a wonderful human being, a vibrant personality on screen, and one hell of a singer. But she has no darkness to her story – or perhaps Edwards chose not to shine a light on those shadows. Their covering of protest songs by Bob Dylan rate a mention, but little observation beyond the surface. Even her time of newfound fame in the civil rights era feels somewhat glossed over while the movie’s most amusing anecdote involves Mavis’ bandmate and father Roebuck ‘Pops’ Staples’ reaction to the decided un-G rated “Do It Again” (what did they all think of Salt-n-Pepa sampling "I'll Take You There" for "Let's Talk About Sexy", I wonder). Whatever the case may be, it makes for a work of filmmaking that is more pleasant than truly exhilarating.
The immediacy that Mavis! lacks is there in full effect in We Are X. The subject of Stephen Kijak’s film are a curious one and the film gains a lot of its cinematic momentum from that juxtaposition of being a discovery, yet one with an immense and fascinating backstory. Charting the eponymous band’s (occasionally also known as X Japan) preparation for a performance to thousands at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, We Are X in many ways will act as an introduction to the band for many – it’s right there in the name, after all – while also offering fans a much-anticipated big screen event.
Much of the film’s success comes from the editing of Mako Kamitsuna and John Maringouin who corral a barrage of archival footage, talking heads, observation, and live performance into a compelling explorations of one of the world’s great rock phenomenons. Unlike Mavis!, the live sequences are particularly well shot, often from deep within the screaming crowds or up close with the bandmembers on stage, dynamically capturing the band’s extravagant flamboyance, their fondness for pyrotechnics, and their larger than life on-stage personas while the story takes unexpected twists (cults!) and tragic turns (the suicide of a band member) – at least for those unfamiliar with the band.
And with their bodies looking frail and brittle, rattled with ill-health, there is genuine suspense as to whether they will get on stage at all. I just wish that the film’s final triumphant moments hadn’t been relegated to a small box during the end credits. But, hey, the film does have one of 2016’s best opening credits sequences so that’s a small cherry on top of a vividly entertaining and finely assembled film.
Release: Mavis! is currently available on HBO Go and HBO Now. There are still some cities left on the We Are X tour, that can be found here.
Oscar Chances: Doubtful, as I suspect We Are X is a bit too out of their comfort zone and Mavis! just doesn't have an edge in an very strong year.