Moog (***)
review by Jon
Waterman
This documentary tells the story of Robert Moog and his usual
rise through the ranks in the music industry. His inventions
were slow to catch on, but eventually found their place in
history and music hasn’t sounded the same since. His
synthesizers revolutionized the way notes were formed and heard.
They could be manipulated beyond anything anyone had seen before.
Some saw it as the portent of the cultural breakdown of civilized
society; others saw vast opportunity and expansion of the art.
The documentary does a good job of balancing the subject matter
and telling us what we’d want to know. We learn about
the nature of Moog himself as well as the machine as well as
the artists that use it. The movie is complete with history
of the invention and its eventual impact. It seems like a lot
for a 72-minute film to handle, but this one does and does
it well. It even has time left over to give us a few musical
breaks to show us concert footage from a synthesized music
festival.
The movie is quite interesting and the pacing is perfect.
The archival footage and interviews all provide substance and
further the structure along its path. The stories are funny
and lend more insight into the situation then they probably
realize. What’s interesting is that aside from Moog,
there really aren’t any interviews. Instead, we get Moog
talking about the good old days and the good new days with
the people that helped him out in developing and distributing
this crazy contraption and the artists that have mastered it.
They aren’t interviews, they are chats, and that adds
a lot to the overall impact of the movie.
The cinematography seemed a bit amateurish to me. I got the
feeling that the project was made either by students or recent
graduates with little prior experience. In fact, director/editor
Hans Fjellestad has only one other movie under his belt. From
what I see here, he’ll find his touch eventually. What’s
missing is a definitive look and feel. It’s all very
basic. Perhaps this is the downfall of all the subjects. There
was too much to cover in too many locales to really find a
vision for the movie. Most of the stuff is handheld. Surprisingly
enough, it’s rather steady, which is an increasingly
rare find. Everything is composed well and we aren’t
made dizzy from a roaming/zooming camera.
Seeing how the history of the instrument and the culture it
spawned came to be is worth the price of admission, even if
you don’t particularly care for the sounds the synthesizer
produces. The soundtrack is catchy and, of course, all synthesized.
If you know nothing of the music, the movie deserves a look.
If you’re a fan of the genre, then “Moog” can’t
be missed.
respond to jon@filmbrats.com
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