Recently, my Twitter timeline featured a lot of tweets about The Sparks Brothers, a new documentary by Edgar Wright about some band that musicians really seemed to admire, but were not that famous. I certainly had never heard of them, but I love anything Edgar Wright does and the interviews in this film seemed to feature a lot of actors and musicians I like, so I figured they wouldn't steer me wrong. Well I figured correctly and was treated to a 140-minute extravaganza detailing the wondrous journey of this bizarre band.
The film is the story of Ron and Russell Mael, the two brothers who make up the band, Sparks. They have been making music for five decades, ever since the band first formed in 1967, and Wright offers up a loving and thorough ode to their evolution across all those years. We get the history of these brothers, who were born and raised in California, but then went on to form this band that became so famous in the UK and Europe that most of their fans were convinced they were a British band. And we get a detailed summary of each album they released, including the inspiration behind the music and the history of what was going on with the band at the time. So far, they have released 25 (!) albums, and each one is completely different from the last, so there is a LOT to unpack here.
This movie takes you on a wild journey and even if you think that this music is not for you, you may find yourself changing your mind by the end. Because Sparks has hit every genre imaginable, so somewhere in those 25 albums, you're gonna find something that tickles your fancy. And it's simply impossible to not admire these brothers. They are artists in every sense of the word - they haven't been chasing fame for all these years but have been pursuing their delirious and delightful musical vision. Many of the interviews feature fans pointing out their favorite lyrics from a Sparks song, and it ranges from outright silly to downright emotional, and everything in between. My personal favorite was a song called My Baby's Taking Me Home, but I would be hard-pressed to explain why. In fact, having now written that sentence, I am going to be humming that song for the rest of the day.
These brothers have been working together for so long but they have settled into a perfect routine. They each have their contribution to the band and it's wonderful to see how they play off of each other and use each others strengths to elevate their material. Russell was the younger brother, the "pretty boy" with an ethereal voice, while Ron was the older, more protective brother, who wrote all the lyrics and stood by the sidelines playing his keyboard and drawing comparisons to Adolf Hitler because of his mustache (that's a whole ridiculous and amazing thing). So yeah, watch The Sparks Brothers. You will have absolutely no idea what you're getting into, but I guarantee that you're in for a treat. If Edgar Wright's goal was to create a new generation of Sparks fans with this movie, mission accomplished.
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