Reviewed by Anna Krahn
Featuring David "C Diddy" Jung, Dan "Björn Türoque" Crane,
Zac "The Magnet" Monro, Ian "The Red Plectrum" Stafford,
Mark "Roxy McStagger" Hadfield, Brian May
Produced by Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz & Anna Barber
Certification UK 15 | US R
Runtime 81 minutes
Directed by Alexandra Lipsitz
Most people have, at some point in their lives, strummed a few imaginary chords to Guns 'n' Roses or sung emotively into their hair brush. Maybe like me you pretended your hair dryer was a wind machine in a music video. Yes we've all done that, I hear you cry, but air guitar is ridiculous and why would we want to watch an 81-minute documentary on it? Because, despite the ridiculousness, it's really bloody funny, that's why.
The story follows air guitarists David "C-Diddy" Jung and Dan "Bjoörn Türoque" Crane on their journey to be becoming air guitar champions. From the heat stages in New York and Los Angeles all the way to the world championships (yes they're real) in Oulu, Finland we start to find out that air guitar is not just a silly past-time but something taken very seriously by a surprising large group of people. Many of whom believe air guitar can actually cure the ills of the world because if everyone were carrying an air guitar, nobody could carry a gun, perfectly logical. Along the way we find out more about our air guitar heroes, watch them perform and find out what their families and friends think of it all. We also get to meet other air guitarists who are equally, let's just say extravagant.
Sayings such as 'To err is human, to air guitar, divine,' said with total sincerity can't help but make you chuckle. And the laughs don't stop there — the performances, the outfits especially C-Diddy's Hello Kitty breast plate, even the way the competition is judged — on technical merit, stage presence and airness (the extent to which the performance transcends the imitation of the real art form and becomes an art form in itself) are all giggle inducers. Air Guitar Nation is without doubt one of the silliest, no wait the single most ridiculous film you'll see all year but it's also one of the funniest.
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SECOND OPINION | Neil Davey ***** Perhaps the most fun you’ll have in the cinema this year, Air Guitar Nation is a stupidly uplifting film about the stupidly uplifting practice of air guitar. The film’s beauty is in the people it features and the cheery acknowledgement that yes, it is a bit daft, isn’t it? However, while it could have all come across as knowingly ironic and a bit smug, everybody involved somehow steers an incredibly fine line between the tongue-in-cheek seriousness of the competition — and don’t think it’s not a serious competition — and just having a whale of a time. It’s clearly genuinely liberating to participate in and it’s genuinely liberating to watch. You can delve deeper into the film and spot all sorts of parallels with society, competition in general and world politics. Or you can sit back, laugh like a drain and roll back into the real world feeling all warm and fuzzy. Either way, it’s a little cracker and will be nestled in / somewhere near the number one slot in this year’s Top Ten selection.
• Official UK Site
• Air Guitar Nation at IMDb
• Björn Türoque discusses his favourite piece of technology at The Guardian