Actor-writer-director Christopher Guest has made several "mockumentaries," that is, fictional documentaries. With much help from Rob Reiner, Michael McKeen, Harry Shearer, and Eugene Levy, he has created a very funny body of work.
The two musical endeavors are This Is Spinal Tap, chronicling an eighties metal band, and A Mighty Wind, about a reunion of sixties folk artists. I find both hilarious, not only for the comedy itself, but also for the musical scenes that are portrayed.
But what is especially great about them is the music. While many of the songs contain humor that mocks the genre (think Big Bottom or Never Did No Wanderin'), the fact remains that most of the songs are really very well written. For example, though the lyrics are stupid both Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight and The Majesty of Rock by Spinal Tap are killer tunes and arrangements. Likewise A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow from A Mighty Wind is a song that could have easily been a hit.
But the quirkiest music movie of them all is O Brother Where Art Thou. A re-telling of the Odyssey set in the 1930s, the story is a typical Cohen Brothers oddity. What makes it interesting for this subject, however, is its use of old-timey music, most of it actually old and a couple of modern tunes written like old songs.
Though a couple of old recordings are used, most songs are performed by more modern artists like Alison Krauss and the members of her band, EmmyLou Harris, and John Hartford. T-Bone Burnett did a marvelous job of selecting good strong songs and good performers. Some of the songs have no particular relationship to the plot, but others fit in interesting ways. One of my favorites is the sirens singing Didn't Leave Nothing But the Baby.
The movie has been on CMT recently and I have rewatched it several times. If somehow you never saw it, you really need to give it a try.
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