“The scene here is so much different than anything I’m accustomed to where people gather,” says Steve “Lips” Kudlow, surveying the 10am crowd at the Revival club on College Street, a herd of cinematic anthropologists clambering for a complimentary cup of coffee. Kudlow and his  bandmate Robb Reiner are the stars of Anvil! The Story of Anvil, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and will now open the Hot Docs festival at the Winter Garden Theatre on April 17.

Directed by Sacha Gervasi, whose travels with the local thrash band date back to when he was a peripatetic teen in the mid-1980s, the documentary follows Anvil to more familiar habitats — heavy metal festivals in countries like Bulgaria and Romania, the now-defunct Heads or Tails sports bar in Etobicoke and Moe Pancer’s deli restaurant at Bathurst and Wilson.

Hot Docs, now into its 15th year of showcasing films dominated by tales of personal pathos and/or global catastrophe, has evolved into the refreshing flipside of the Toronto International Film Festival — mostly because of the total dearth of stars for the paparazzi to prey upon.

The opening night of the festival, spanning downtown art-house screens from April 17-27, was designed for a bit of star power, though. Green Porno, a six-minute film about the sex life of insects directed by Isabella Rossellini, will serve as the prelude to the feature attraction, Anvil!

Like a lot of 15-year-olds, quips Hot Docs executive director Chris McDonald, the festival is dedicating itself to a little bit of porn and a whole lot of music. The guys from Anvil are in their mid-50s, though — this April, it will be 35 years since guitarist Kudlow and drummer Reiner started playing together. With their current bassist Glenn Five in tow, their presence provides a rare opportunity for documentary subjects to meet the press, talking to nubile entertainment news reporters who are probably much perkier than the kind of guys who probably write for Kerrang!

Before the press conference begins, though, it’s clear that the Anvil members are a bit nervous about addressing Toronto’s cultural elite.

So, is the idea that you’re going to be led by a leash around the zoo, getting poked and prodded, like a couple of exotic animals?

“We’re just here to talk about the movie,” demurs Reiner.

And when they get a turn on stage, between the other Hot Docs lineup announcements, Kudlow keeps it glib, speaking on behalf of the others: “We’ve spent virtually our entire lives trying to rock and roll… anyone who’s seen the movie is pretty impressed,” he shrugs.

“I don’t know what else to tell you.”

Pretty humble for a lifelong longhair whose own speed-metal discography consists of titles like Metal on Metal, Strength of Steel, Pound For Pound and Worth the Weight, and who is renowned for shrieking and shredding from the stage.

Gervasi rings Scrolling Eye afterward from Los Angeles — such is the benefit of being an embedded Anvil journalist — not surprised to hear that his documentary subjects were kind of reticent, even first thing in the morning.

“Toronto has never shown them respect,” he says. “So I wouldn’t be surprised if they were nervous. But if there’s even a tiny shift in perception, with people recognizing that Anvil are a true national asset, that would be terrific.”

While it was implied at Sundance that Anvil! could earn local premiere status at TIFF, the Hot Docs opportunity came sooner, along with invitations to forthcoming film festivals in Sydney, Prague and Rio de Janerio later this year.

Jonas Akerlund, a member of Swedish black metal band Bathory before becoming Roxette’s video director of choice — and the man behind the camera of Madonna’s new “4 Minutes” video — has also offered his talents for an Anvil clip.

Meanwhile, the next project for Gervasi is a biopic on Hervé Villechaize — best known as Tattoo from Fantasy Island — as he was the last person to interview the midget actor prior to his suicide in 1993.

The sincerity that Gervasi insists is motivating his projects might not always translate in a context like Hot Docs, where the presumption is that stories about marginal pop culture personalities are being played predominantly for laughs. Consider a Hot Docs offering like Wesley Willis’ Joy Rides, about the schizophrenic stream-of-consciousness singer who died in 2003. The audience for these movies can only anticipate that their guffawing fascination will be thrust down a track of empathy, and the conclusion will be bittersweet.

Ditto the apparent appeal by the festival’s Canadian offerings like Carny (about transient fairground workers), Carts of Darkness (homeless bottle-pickers who race their shopping carts in North Vancouver) and S&M: Short and Male (vertically challenged gentlemen kvetch about predicaments).

Of course, it would be interesting to discover potentially mass-appeal documentaries that deviated from those rhythms, but that’s the formula that tends to please the Hot Docs crowd — and can sell to other countries, too.

And, with more than 170 movies screened over 10 days, there will also be plenty of portrayals of genuine torment and trauma on the silver screens.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil remains an interesting case study, though, since the pratfall-prone career captured on celluloid is still in progress.  

Seeing the movie will have to wait until next month, when Gervasi promises honoured guests will include the owners of Pancer’s deli — where Anvil sat to recall the writing of their first song “Thumb Hang,” about the Spanish inquisition — and loyal fans like Colin “Mad Dog” Brown, whose most recognizable talent is being able to snort an entire bottle of beer up his nose.

“This is an obscure Canadian thrash metal band, and now all of Hollywood knows who they are,” boasts Gervasi. “I am fairly confident that this is the strongest point at which their career has ever been.

“But I don’t even think it’s a given that they will be embraced as hometown heroes, even if the movie does well everywhere else. Keep in mind that the people of Newcastle, England — where he was born — absolutely hated Sting.”

Previously on the Scroll: The Story of Anvil

Send news, tips, links about arts, culture, media to scroll@eyeweekly.com.



 
 

Email us at: LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM or send your questions to EYEWEEKLY.COM
625 Church St, 6th Floor, Toronto M4Y 2G1