loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies

loudQUIETloud (2006, Cantor and Galkin) is a documentary chronicling the 2004 reunion tour of the Pixies. It's nicely paced, with some great character arcs like bassist Kim Deal's dependency on her sister Kelley's presence, as they support each other through sobriety and guitarist Joey Santiago's anchoring himself to the world outside the band by working on a documentary score and webcamming with his family. Actually, all four members rely on something outside the band to get them through this period of time; there's little to no interaction with each other. It's as if they see this as a job, something to get through. That's not to say that they don't do their job well; the performances start off wobbly, but become inspired as the tour moves on.

There's a great sequence in the film, though, that truly makes it worth watching. The filmmakers find a pair of girls, no more than 15 or 16 years old, making them born just as the Pixies were hitting their peak. One of them happened upon a book called Brave New Girl which has a character who's heavily into the Pixies. From this, she got all the Pixies' music and is now in a Pixies cover band. The scene when she gets to meet the band is such an intimate moment for her, I actually felt like a voyeur watching it.

If they left it at that, it would stand as a great film moment. But we get two more beats that play out beautifully. After she meets the band, she slips Kim Deal her highlighted, read-to-death copy of the book. Cut to: back on the bus, Deal flips through it ever so gently, totally aware of the talisman-like power it had on this young girl.

Finally, as the credits start to roll, the filmmakers give us a glimpse of the girl's cover band, reverently playing "Monkey Gone to Heaven" and then splice it seamlessly into the actual band's version. I can't count how many people I've heard say were influenced by the Beatles but I do know I've gagged nearly every time, barely able to get out, "Yeah, who the fuck wasn't?". (Sometimes it's, "I find I stay alive by breathing." but that doesn't get the desired response.) Here, we see how a band takes hold of one's imagination, passion, thoughts - hell, every damned waking moment - without a single cliche. When kids (mostly girls) are 8, 9, 10 they eat, sleep, drink and breathe acts like the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana. I've got zero problem with that; quite the contrary, it's a shame how far fewer people develop that kind of passion for bands as they get older. Maybe it's just nature weeding out the true believers.

I hope for two things after watching this doc: that girl never loses the passion and that I get to hear her play someday.