The Story Of Anvil: Mockumentary Or Documentary?
Anybody watching the new documentary Anvil! – The Story of Anvil could be forgiven for feeling like they were being taken for a ride. Minutes into the film, about a forgotten Canadian heavy metal band called Anvil, we’re presented with grainy archival footage of a ludicrous-looking group of young guys in bondage gear, enthusiastically playing guitars with dildos. Contemporary testimonials from giants of the metal world may be intercut with their performance, but there’s something a bit too This is Spinal Tap about it.
In what appears to be a groaning reference to that film’s director, the drummer is called Robb Reiner and as the film progresses, catching up with Anvil a little over 20 years later, with Robb and his best friend, guitarist and singer Steve “Lips” Kudlow still trying to make it, the Tap references continue to come thick and fast. Far from being an elaborately executed hoax, though, everything you see on screen is real, though the confusion is deliberate.
