Meet Me in the Bathroom

Around 2001 a group of young musicians in New York hang around the same bars and the same apartments. Nobody is even thinking about a record deal; rehearsals happen in garages, shows in small clubs. Then the World Trade Center comes down and the city becomes something else. Some of these groups build the sound of those years; some with a detached attitude, some with electronic rhythms. The documentary gathers those few years, the period when nobody knew what would happen. Will Lovelace directs with Dylan Southern. The documentary is adapted from Lizzy Goodman's 2017 book of the same name. It is a British and American co-production. The film screened at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem, Interpol, The Moldy Peaches and TV on the Radio, among others, appear in it. The narrative is built from archive footage, audio interviews and home video from the period; there is almost no newly filmed face to face interview. The matter it treats is the birth and breakup of a scene; the closeness among the group members turns into distance over time. The film uses the effect of 9/11 on the city as the background to the music scene. The narrative moves chronologically and cuts fast between the bands. The documentary puts some bands at the centre and passes quickly over others. The ending closes with the scene coming apart. Its limit is balance; the narrative carries too many bands, some stay on the surface, and the pace is scattered in places. Who it is for: viewers curious about the New York rock scene of the two thousands. Who it is not for: it is scattered, carries many names, and the ending nostalgic.