Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie film review: Wild guerilla comedy
Matt Johnson returns with another curiosity that marries Canadian culture and an indie sensibility
If you’re looking for a fun, antiestablishment antidote to summer blockbusters and sequels then this playful Canadian curio (with a title that’s hard to wrap your head around) is well worth a shot. Based on a cult web and TV show, the film is the brainchild of Matt Johnson (who some might remember as the director-star of 2013’s found-footage dramedy The Dirties) and his childhood friend, the musician and actor Jay McCarrol.
Shot in guerilla fashion and owing an enjoyably shameless debt to the Back To The Future franchise (thanks to a canny understanding of fair use law), it’s set in present-day Toronto and follows struggling bandmates Matt and Jay. Desperate to secure a gig at local institution the Rivoli, the pair have spent the past 17 years enacting a variety of attention-grabbing schemes. When their latest bid fails (an astonishing attempt to skydive into the city’s SkyDome from the CN Tower), a series of convoluted events leads them back to 2008, where they change the course of history, with further madcap shenanigans (including murder and a manhunt) to come.
There’s a touch of Bill & Ted-esque energy to these time-travelling imbeciles, while their improvised interactions with unsuspecting members of the public unfold in hidden camera style. McCarrol provides the music (and gets some scenes as a cheesy solo artist) but there’s little sense of an actual band here, it’s more about their characters’ constant quest for attention.
It might take a moment for newcomers to acclimatise to the duo’s well-established shtick, but this ingenious and amusing film combines an amateurish, charmingly ramshackle aesthetic with some surprisingly slick set-pieces and audacious acts, often filmed without permission. As insane as things get, it’s hard not to admire the achievement.
Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie is in cinemas from Friday 3 July.