Wilco - Ashes of American Flags

Title:              Wilco — Ashes of American Flags
Director:              Christopher Green, Brendan Canty
Producer:            Christopher Green, Brendan Canty
Editor:                  Christopher Green
Sound:                  Brendan Canty
Year:                     2008 (88 minutes)

Synopsis: The great band Wilco have 8 HD cameras and 42 channels of Pro Tools to follow them around the south while they play small historic venues to rabid crowds, while allowing us to view the south through these veteran travelers eyes. Beautifully shot, edited and mixed, this film is proof that they are the most inventive group of musicians since The Band.

Review: The film is nothing special. It’s not horrible, but it’s not as good as it could have been.

I think the best way I can describe Wilco – Ashes of American Flags is to say that it is a run-of-the-mill rockumentary. The majority of the film is concert footage interspersed with a little off-stage footage. The concert footage is good, but not overly good. The off-stage footage is blah. There’s nothing to it. We don’t learn anything new about the band or its members. I wanted more and kept thinking, “Now the film is going to take off.” It never did and I went away disappointed.

One of the resaons that I was so disappointed was because Wilco is often thought of as a very creative band. But the film was anything but creative. It was bland and unimaginative. It’s as if the filmmakers were given a formula for a “fill-in-the-blanks” documentary and that’s all they did. If it wasn’t in the formula, they didn’t add it.

I want to be clear, Wilco – Ashes of American Flags isn’t a horrible film, but I wouldn’t suggest going too far out of your way to see it.

(2.75 out of 5.0)