'The Sparks Brothers' Review | Hot Docs 2021

The 2021 Hot Docs Festival will be available for audiences across Canada to stream April 29 to May 9. Hot Docs is the largest documentary focused film festival in North America and the line-up this year is absolutely incredible.

Check out my full coverage of Hot Docs 2021!

The Sparks Brothers (2021)

Director: Edgar Wright
Producers: Edgar Wright, Nira Park, George Hencken, Laura Richardson

Synopsis: Edgar Wright's first documentary feature, The Sparks Brothers, chronicles the decades-long career and influence of the enigmatic rock pop duo Sparks. With commentary from celebrity fans Flea, Beck, Jack Antonoff, Jason Schwartzman, Neil Gaiman, and more, The Sparks Brothers, takes audiences on a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers/bandmates Ron and Russell Mael.

Review:

"Your favourite band's favourite band" is probably the best description of the music duo Sparks. I'd never heard of them and based off The Sparks Brothers doc, I've really been missing out.

For all of my love for movie and books, I don't have the same passion for music. But what I do have a passion for is other people's passions and the fact that Edgar Wright could have made a documentary about anything he wanted to, the fact that he chose this relatively obscure band to put a wider spotlight on them is beautiful.

Sparks is a band made up of brothers, Ron and Russell Mael, who started creating music in 1967 and have been steadily working ever since. Their music is noted for being experimental in nature and never conforming. Their lyrics require deep-dive analysis with references to Shakespeare and contemporary social issues, and their compositions are always eclectic. Sparks has influenced Sex Pistols, The Smiths, Björk, and Nirvana -- and as was pointed out in The Sparks Brothers, there are countless bands out there who have been impacted by Sparks' work without even realising it. Because they've never allowed trends to dictate their work, Sparks has probably missed out on mainstream smash hits, but their impact on the music industry as a whole is clearly far-reaching.

Wright takes us through the history of Sparks, grabbing interviews from the Mael brothers themselves as well as celebrity fans like Mike Myers, Beck, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jason Schwartzman, Neil Gaiman, and many more. Their greatest hits and lyrics are dissected with personal stories from Sparks providing a deeper insight into how some of their best works came to be.

The documentary itself has some typical Edgar Wright flare: animations are used to play out some of the anecdotes being told (I personally love when this is done) and very Wright-like editing is employed. Wright closes the doc out sharing his thoughts about the band and why he wanted to make the film in the first place, which I thought was a nice touch to make the project personal.

The Sparks Brothers is a touching love letter to a band whose contributions to music hasn't been properly acknowledged. Fans of Sparks will love this, and it's almost guaranteed that this duo has gained a whole new group of fans.

The Sparks Brothers is streaming in Canada via Hot Docs until May 9th and will be opening in theatres on June 18, 2021.

Thanks to Focus Features and Touchwood PR for the screener!