AJ Schnack: Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns
No, not gay porn, despite what the title may suggest, but we’ll get to that sooner or later. Gigantic is a documentary about They Might Be Giants, the ultimate indy group. For the uninitiated in the great unwashed masses, TMBG (as they’re known to their nerdy fans) are an American band based in Brooklyn, New York who have been writing music together for over 20 years. Outside of the phenomenal Birdhouse in Your Soul charting in the early 90s, and Boss of Me, the grating theme to the awesome Malcolm in the Middle, charting ten years after, they haven’t had a great deal of success in the UK, and this film, following suit, was never released in cinemas in Great Britain, though is now available on DVD.
Quite simply, it tells the story of the two Johns (Linnell and Flansburgh), from their early years in Brooklyn, through the huge success of anti-love song Ana Ng, the MTV-supported sensation that was their third album Flood, and their drop from the spotlight, as MTV’s support ceased and the band had problems with their record label who were clueless as to how to promote them. In the absence of footage from the band’s career, moments are recalled by fans, friends, and peers who share their experiences of the band. In the present, the camera follows the Johns as they promote the 2001 album Mink Car. The most interesting part of the film, however, is when the two Johns talk about each other and it’s a defining moment of a film which, while entertaining, is certainly lightweight, with the focus assuredly on light-heartedness rather than any sort of perspicacious insight into the bands relationship or creative process.
A key problem is that AJ Schnack’s occasional attempts to play up the wackier side of TMBG (celebrities reading their lyrics as poems, the selection of facts about James K Polk, school children discussing the true meaning of Particle Man) do feel like filler. If the documentary was more in-depth, these vignettes would certainly make good breather material to give the audience a break, but as it stands, it’s lightweight on top of lightweight, and results in an aroma of trying-too-hard.
But while the film has some definite weaknesses, it does one thing very well: it dispels the myth that TMBG, and the two Johns by extension, are some kind of lofty, impenetrable ‘in’-joke-laden wankfest. On the contrary, it shows them both as very normal guys, and what’s more modest, self-effacing and earnest, too. While, from their often perplexing lyrics, you would be forgiven for thinking they were beard-stroking intellectual types, this shows them as two hard-working, down-to-earth guys whose integrity, vision, and musical originality gave birth to the little band that could, did, and has been doing for over 20 years.
The film isn’t a penetrating portrayal of the personal lives and creative processes that I, as a long-time fan of the band, would’ve liked to see, but it goes a long way to make the group approachable, and with such an affectionate tone, the film makes very entertaining viewing.
Quite simply, it tells the story of the two Johns (Linnell and Flansburgh), from their early years in Brooklyn, through the huge success of anti-love song Ana Ng, the MTV-supported sensation that was their third album Flood, and their drop from the spotlight, as MTV’s support ceased and the band had problems with their record label who were clueless as to how to promote them. In the absence of footage from the band’s career, moments are recalled by fans, friends, and peers who share their experiences of the band. In the present, the camera follows the Johns as they promote the 2001 album Mink Car. The most interesting part of the film, however, is when the two Johns talk about each other and it’s a defining moment of a film which, while entertaining, is certainly lightweight, with the focus assuredly on light-heartedness rather than any sort of perspicacious insight into the bands relationship or creative process.
A key problem is that AJ Schnack’s occasional attempts to play up the wackier side of TMBG (celebrities reading their lyrics as poems, the selection of facts about James K Polk, school children discussing the true meaning of Particle Man) do feel like filler. If the documentary was more in-depth, these vignettes would certainly make good breather material to give the audience a break, but as it stands, it’s lightweight on top of lightweight, and results in an aroma of trying-too-hard.
But while the film has some definite weaknesses, it does one thing very well: it dispels the myth that TMBG, and the two Johns by extension, are some kind of lofty, impenetrable ‘in’-joke-laden wankfest. On the contrary, it shows them both as very normal guys, and what’s more modest, self-effacing and earnest, too. While, from their often perplexing lyrics, you would be forgiven for thinking they were beard-stroking intellectual types, this shows them as two hard-working, down-to-earth guys whose integrity, vision, and musical originality gave birth to the little band that could, did, and has been doing for over 20 years.
The film isn’t a penetrating portrayal of the personal lives and creative processes that I, as a long-time fan of the band, would’ve liked to see, but it goes a long way to make the group approachable, and with such an affectionate tone, the film makes very entertaining viewing.
posted by Ryan Stephens at 11:38 AM
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