In many respects, Edgar Wright choosing Sparks — aka Ron and Russell Mael — as the subject in/with regard to’concerning’regarding his first documentary film is entirely unsurprising. The director and his subjects share much: namely, an obsession with music merely’barely matched by an obsession with cinema; a wonky wit. The director himself was captured after seeing them on Top Of The Pops at the age of five.###Determined, you sense, not to make a run-of-the-mill documentary in/with regard to’concerning’regarding a band who are anything but, Wright disrupts the linear storytelling that in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ms the film’s foundation — built from almost 100 hours of talking-head interviews with the likes of Vince Clarke, Björk, Beck, Flea, Patton Oswalt and the brothers themselves. There’s a ‘visual puns’ section; papier-mâché stop-motion; an FAQ opening that includes the questions, “Are you a real band?”, “Are you identical twins?” and, “What is your sexual persuasion?”###As the film itself states, this is intended to be a “window into the psyche” of the Mael brothers. Two artists who most of the world know intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully little with regards to’concerning’with respect to , who are propel n by imagination and creativity over commerciality (yes, these two things are linked). Who manufacture ‘art in/with regard to’concerning’regarding art’s sake’, rather than in/with regard to’concerning’regarding cold-hard cash or the warm glow of reputation’renown’prestige . Who much of the time — with that raised dead-pan eyebrow, that ‘Hitler’ moustache and those absurd lyrics — leave you wondering: are they just taking the piss?###This does inevitably kill the conventional rise and fall (and usually rise again) narrative. In its place is a diligent album-by-album approach and the often-intriguing, sometimes-frustrating, frequently-funny story of a band who — as they refuse to be judged by conventional values or metrics — can never truly be deemed a success or a failure. Who happen to be both hideously underrated and hugely influential.###Wright’s exuberance and passion keeps you compelled in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the length of the run-time.###Those expecting any moments of huge revelation or introspection — Behind The Music style — will be left wanting (there are next to
no personal details), but there are moments of poignancy in among the madness: sorrowful’distressing’woeful’heartbroken’mirthless’dejected’dismal’lugubrious ness at their father’s death when they were both young boys; the pain and disappointment of spending six (wasted) years on Tim Burton’s failed Mai, The Psychic Girl film.###Wright attentive ly, in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ensically, cuts just deep abundant’ample’plentiful into the Sparks psyche and mythology to make you feel sated , while recognising that their mystique is part of that magic. And that spell shouldn’t be broken with a too-heavy hand.###There is a lot of ground to cover — five decades, 25 albums, Christ knows how many genres, line-ups and reinventions — and the film does hit an almost-indulgent 141 minutes. But as well as a mind-twisting fascination with the Mael brothers, Wright’s exuberance and passion keeps you compelled in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the length of the run-time. He even turns the camera on himself as an interviewee (with the caption “fanboy”). The result isn’t so much a love letter as the director opening his chest and laying his Sparks-heavy heart out in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the world to inspect.