Beyond the Boundaries 10- Review of Metallica's 'Some Kind of Monster'

When I had a tutorial with Anne I was told to watch a film called 'Some Kind of Monster', directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. The film itself is based around the metal band Metallica during the period of the early 2000s, when the band had not released an album for a number of years and were at rock bottom. The film shows the period of time in which there was a lot of tension within the band, resulting in the counselling of a psychiatrist to work out the bands problems.

The film begins with the band setting up a home studio to record their album. The film cuts between this and the counselling sessions they have, which is an interesting juxtaposition, between the high's of them in the studio, hiding their opinions and feelings through playing music loudly and the quiet, sombre environment, which makes the film narratively quite interesting. Being a music documentary, what makes the film interesting is the lack of music in the film, which is different to a lot of music documentaries out there, that have extended period's of music, whereas Some Kind of Monster only has short 10-20 segments of live music and focuses more on what the members of the band have to say about everything going on and what they are feeling. This is something I aim to do when making my film, as I want to focus more on the individuals and their lives rather than getting too distracted by the music.

Screenshot of Lars and James in the studio

The relationship between James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich is something that is very interesting due to the fact that they are two very big characters that tend to collide a lot of the time during the film, whereas the guitarist, Kirk Hammett, is more of an introvert, trying to keep the peace. There are a few major lows in the documentary, being the moment when James, the lead singer/guitarist had to go to rehab for almost a year. After this period he could only record in the studio from 12:00pm to 4:00pm.

Screenshot from the animation made, parodying the lawsuit Lars Ulrich took out on Napster. 

The film also focuses on the other band members for instance Lars, who is an artist in his spare time, selling painting for millions of dollars. The film also shows negative aspects of his life, for instance not being able to perform some of the songs properly in the studio and the suing of Napster, a free music website that illegally used the bands music. The court proceedings led to a negative response by Metallica fans, some of whom destroyed their Metallica albums in rage. Kirk, the lead guitarist, enjoys surfing in his spare time and spending a lot of his time alone. Throughout the film you can tell Kirk is more of an individual, and acts differently to the other members. James, the lead vocalist and backing guitarist enjoys driving expensive motorcycles whilst trying to fit in time with his family, especially his daughter, who we see throughout the film in the studio and at her dance practice. The inclusion of the families of the band members is interesting as it gives a more in-depth look into the individual members of the band and adds a lighter feel to the film, juxtapositioning between the harsh reality of life in a failing band and the simpler things in life that they seem to take for granted, like family.

Even though i'm not a huge fan of Metallica, I still felt a lot of enjoyment whilst watching the film, even though its a genre i'm not a huge fan of, or very familiar with. This is something I would like to do to my audience, being that Iron Maiden is a metal band that is to a required taste. Because the personalities of each member are so different and unique, the film is therefore made into something more interesting, differentiating from a straightforward music documentary about the history of rock/metal, where the lives of metal icons are only touched upon and the music leads the film concept. This is something I am looking to steer away from, and the casting process I intend on doing will help chose interesting individuals to focus my film on.

The end of the film touches upon the success of the band and their reformation with a new bassist, Robert Trujillo, The band offers him one million dollars to be a part of the band, which is just another reminder of the scale of the band on the metal scene, and how successful they have been. The inclusion of a bassist begins the resolution that the band were trying to find throughout the film. The inclusion of the bassist brings them all together and keeps them strong throughout all the dark, negative times they had shared previously. This then progresses to the preparation of the Metallica tour and the release of their new album, St Anger, where the members get emotional looking back at the past few years of their lives in the band, and how things have drastically improved. The film ends with a live performance dedicated to the success of the band, hosted by MTV. This is an interesting contrast to the beginning of the film, where the band were unenthusiastic and lifeless, and the leaps and bounds they made to perform at a huge venue with smiles on their faces at the end. I felt this was a predictable, yet satisfying end to the film.

Screenshot of the full, revised line up including their counselor. 

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the film and have taken many inspirations from it. The fact that the film actually uses more spoken dialogue than music is an interesting alternative to a typical music documentary. This is something I intend on following during the production of my film. I enjoy the fact that each member has an interesting life story and character, which is something I hope to achieve, being the uniqueness of the individual that makes a viewer, who may or may not be familiar or so much like the band, want to continue watching.