SXSW Online 2021 Review: “The Sparks Brothers”
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
The band Sparks, as I have told almost anyone who I have discussed music with since I first discovered the band as a preteen in the seventies, is one of the most unique musical acts in the history of rock music. Sparks — brothers Ron and Russell Mael — have persevered since that decade, putting out music ahead of its time at a steady clip and touring behind their new albums, with their latest release A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip receiving positive reviews and raves from fans last year. Director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead; Hot Fuzz; Baby Driver), an admitted fanboy of the group, has crafted a documentary about the duo with The Sparks Brothers, a fun, often hilarious, and heartfelt valentine to the brothers Mael that explores their 50 years and 25 albums together as Sparks.
Sparks has always had a wry humor to their lyrics, and their style of wit blends perfectly with Wright’s own sense of humor, providing a great deal of laughs and smiles throughout the documentary, while occasionally discussing tougher topics such as the death of Ron and Russell’s father when they were youngsters, and a six-year period where the brothers worked hard at their music every day but could not land a new recording contract.
Wright takes a chronological look at their career from their first album to their most recent. Sparks famously moved to England from Los Angeles in the 1970s to find success that eluded them in the United States, and then moved back to California to make a minor splash during the heady days of 1980s new wave music. They have changed their styles constantly, not to try to break huge, but rather to create the music they need to create. As I mentioned earlier, they tend to be just ahead of trends, as evidenced by such sonic explorations as making possibly the first rock synthesizer album, with Giorgio Moroder producing (No. 1 in Heaven; 1976).
Modern interviews in black-and-white are intercut with incredible archival footage and photos, including television appearances and concert footage. Besides Ron and Russell, interview subjects include Beck, Jane Weidlin of The Go-Go’s (Sparks’ highest charting single in the United States was “Cool Places” [1983] with Weidlin dueting with Russell), Weird Al Yankovic, members of Duran Duran and Franz Ferdinand — the latter group recorded the collaboration album FFS with Sparks in 2015 — comedian Mike Myers, and many others.
The brothers Mael have remained enigmatic and rather private throughout their career, and as much of a blast as The Sparks Brothers is, the documentary still only allows a limited peek at the two men. The main focus is on their music rather than their personal lives, but the film does offer more about the Maels than even the most ardent longtime Sparks fans have been privy to before.
Edgar Wright’s The Sparks Brothers will hopefully open new eyes and ears to the Mael brothers’ jaw-dropping catalog of music, and lifelong Sparks fans will find plenty to cement why they have loved the duo for so long. I highly recommended this film to music fans of every stripe.
The Sparks Brothers screened as part of SXSW Online 2021, which ran from March 16–20, 2021.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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