Heavy metal really isn't my thing and also full length documentaries aren't always. So I was a bit worried a might end up not liking this documentary at all but instead it surprised me with how much I loved it by the end.
This is not a pretentious documentary that takes an artistic approach and sets up certain moments. It instead is a very humane and honest one, focusing on its persons, that takes a snappy approach and tells its story in such an incredible engaging way. It's a documentary that will make you laugh and is fun to watch throughout but it's also one that plays with all of your other emotions as well and might make you cry.
Secret to this is because we get very close to the documentary its very likable subjects, who after 30 years are still chasing their dreams. Normally you would expect a documentary to be made about a band that's successful or on the rise. A documentary about how against all odds they made it to the top but not this documentary. Here we instead have a band that against all odds never made it. Chances are you never heard of the band Anvil before, while in fact they were one of the earliest heavy metal bands, that also influenced many other big and well known bands. It doesn't stop the band from playing and still being hopeful at a breakthrough though.
Their lack of success has certain kept the band members humble and down to Earth, though at the same time their hunger for recognition also makes them blind at times. It makes you think about when chasing a dream can be a great and wonderful thing and when it's simply time to stop trying and accept that some things aren't meant to be. This is also a question that rises up multiple times throughout this documentary, mostly by the family and loved ones of the main two band members, who also started the band originally, Steve 'Lips' Kudlow and Robb Reiner. They are well in their 50's and all have a family to take care off as well, without a steady job or a bank full with money. Is it still responsible to keep chasing your dreams by then? Watch this documentary and judge for yourself.
It's not so much a documentary that looks at the past but instead at the future but by focusing on the now. We don't just get to see interviews with the band members sitting around, we get to see them touring, all over the world, earning basically no money and facing lots of other struggles, hoping for that one gig that will mean their road to success and their singing with a big record label. It's a very inspiring documentary, even if you have absolutely nothing with music at all.
A both foremost fun and extremely engaging emotional documentary to watch, about real people still chasing their dreams.
9/10
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