A Mighty Wind

A mockumentary set in America. A folk music producer dies. He discovered three groups in the sixties and gathered them all on the same label. His son organises a memorial concert. The venue is a hall in New York and the date is set. The three groups are called. The first is The Folksmen. A trio; they have not played for years and still use the same three chords. The second is The New Main Street Singers. Crowded, cheerful and entirely fake; they bought the original group's name. The third is Mitch and Mickey. A couple who once sang together; they separated and Mitch has not been well since. From there the film is a story of preparation. Rehearsal, costume, a hotel, a television broadcast and constant argument. The narrative is in documentary form. Speaking to camera, archive footage, and invented record sleeves. Mitch and Mickey's line is its centre of gravity. The two of them used to kiss in the middle of a song and the audience is waiting for that tonight. He has not spoken to anyone for years. She is married and has another life. What the narrative is interested in is not folk music but the nostalgia industry: all its humour comes from people trying to rebuild their youth on a stage and from that being impossible. The songs are real. The actors wrote and played the pieces themselves; nothing is mimed. The concert section was shot entirely live. One song was nominated for the original song Oscar and was performed at the ceremony; it was written by Michael McKean and Annette O'Toole. Christopher Guest's method is the known one: the script is only a skeleton and the dialogue is improvised. Bob Balaban, Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard and Parker Posey are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes mockumentary and improvised comedy. Who it is not for: anyone looking for pace; the narrative moves calmly and the jokes usually rest on a look or a pause.