If you are a fan of The Black Keys, you absolutely wanted to be at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin last night where The Black Keys were in attendance for Jeff Dupre’s new doc appropirately titled THIS IS A FILM ABOUT THE BLACK KEYS!
About: THIS IS A FILM ABOUT THE BLACK KEYS traces Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney’s journey from a jamming session in a basement in Akron, Ohio, to rock ’n’ roll super-stardom. They barely knew each other when they made their first recordings, yet quickly realized they shared a powerful musical connection and a drive to succeed. Touring relentlessly for ten years, the duo navigated the highs and lows of life on the road, finally reaching escape velocity with their hit records Brothers and El Camino. As so many forces have threatened to pull them apart, the band has managed to stick together. 24 years later, they’re tighter than ever, still making great music and still asking what’s next.
Reaction: This is pretty much exactly the movie you will expect for a music doc on The Black Keys, and yet it’s totally satisfying throughout and filmmaker Jeff Dupre certainly knows his stuff on Dan Auberbach and Patrick Carney. One thing I quite liked about this one is how brutally honest and revealing Dan and Patrick are in the movie, especially in how it talks about Dan’s early breakup with a younger love before making it big. You won’t get many song performances here before it cuts out to dialogue, and I sometimes wish we’d see some more of their live performances and even a mention of some of their very unique music videos (like their wonderful LONELY BOY video above!). Even with the talking head/clip show setup, THIS IS A FILM ABOUT THE BLACK KEYS is still a solid and entertaining music doc that will please any fans of the band.
