An inspirational rockumentary about an aging metal band, both funny and heart-warming in equal measure. "It's a hilarious, and unexpectedly moving, documentary about the greatest metal band you've probably never heard of." — Entertainment Weekly
Screened as part of NZIFF 2008
Anvil! The Story of Anvil 2007
An audience favourite at every Festival this year since Sundance, this fond and funny heavy metal doc gets in late for its claim to fame in New Zealand. At the age of 14, best friends Lips and Robb Reiner make a pact to rock together forever. In 1982 they were playing their guitars with dildos on the same stage as Bon Jovi, Scorpions, and Whitesnake. Now, in their 50s, they’re working dead-end day jobs and playing weekends in suburban Toronto sports bars. Filmmaker and long-ago Anvil roadie Sacha Gervasi’s documentary follows a renewed flaring of their ambitions on a European tour masterminded by a super-enthusiastic and woefully green new manager. It is an often hilarious, utterly loving tribute to two true believers who have shaped their lives – and those of their nearest and dearest – around a friendship fuelled by heavy metal dreams. “Far too candid and heartbreaking to deserve its common pigeonholing as "a real-life This Is Spinal Tap"… an absurdly side-splitting underdog tale without a hint of condescension.” — Aaron Hillis, Village Voice