Hard-luck Canadian metal act Anvil to open for AC/DC

It’s not often these days that Anthony Lane, one of The New Yorker magazine’s two regular film reviewers, gets to write about a worthwhile film, what with the sorry state of the medium of late. But a few weeks ago, Lane’s back-of-the-book lamentations gave way to a bright spot—Anvil! The Story of Anvil, a documentary chronicling the travails of a Toronto-area metal act called (just to push the title’s delicious redundancy further yet) Anvil. It’s perhaps too kind to say that Anvil has for the vast preponderance of its existence remained a failed musical group. But the documentary is an inspirational portrait of oddball perseverance. Writes Lane: “This film is not about rock music at all … it is about time, and how it threatens to fade us out like a song on the radio, and why, risking ridicule, and leaning on love, we should crank up the volume and keep going.” So it’s too bad that comparisons of the film to Rob Reiner’s trailblazing mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap have left some with the impression that Anvil is not real. Perhaps the announcement that Anvil will open on two U.S. dates for AC/DC may dispel these rumours, as well as answer an important question posed by the band in a darkened European metal joint in the film’s trailer: “Who’s the guy who’s supposed to pay me?”

The New York Times