I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is a rockumentary that takes a most basic premise; to document a band, the much acclaimed alt-country Wilco, making a new album, Hotel Yankee Foxtrot , following them from rehearsing, to recording and mixing, through to the release of the album, and the inevitable touring that follows.
I started this film thinking how extraordinary it was that I had never seen anything like it before. Sure, without a prevalent story it might as felt to some like it should have been relegated to a CD-ROM extra on the album, but I really felt as I started watching this that I just hadn't seen the whole process of recording so…naked before. You really do feel like you are intruding on something private and personal here, seeing behind the curtain, and the film, with no narration and a minimum of interviews the film does make you feel at times like quite a voyeur.
I was happy to watch a few hours of this process, however pedestrian it may sound on paper. Of course nothing goes as smoothly as planned. Classic rock'n'roll dramas are just around the corner, both between band members and between the band and their record company. It's my minor gripe with this film (gotta always have at least one to be classified as a ‘critic') that the director seemed to try and capitalize on this drama. I know it would be the natural instinct of a filmmaker (nay storyteller) to pounce on these moments and wring them for all they're worth, but it just didn't feel like that kind of film. It's true, these arguments and personality clashes are as much a part of the recording process as the music is, and I'm not suggesting for a second that he should have just skimmed over them, but I really think that director Sam Jones should have just treated these fights the same way he treated the band rehearsing, with a minimum of fuss, and moved on. Instead these ‘dramatic' scenes always feel like they have an exclamation point on them. Minor, minor gripe.
The film looks beautiful, but then again black and white always looks beautiful and arty – that's why Kevin Smith's Clerks is classified as an “arthouse” film in many video stores. Jones' photographer eye captures some truly great moments and captures them brilliantly.
This film is obviously a must for any fan of Wilco, as you not only get to hear early versions of the album tracks, but get a voyeuristic view of the musicians behind the music. I think this film will also appeal to any music fan who has ever wanted to see, or can identify with, the process of recording, as the journey of this great album taking shape is both an interesting and entertaining one.