Mock star supernova

>>Performers vie for maximum
“airness” in the slight but enjoyable
documentary Air Guitar Nation

by MALCOLM FRASER

The “niche-competition” documentary offers not only chuckles for an audience, but a relatively easy process for a filmmaker. As Spellbound and Wordplay proved, you get a bunch of eccentric people together, pit them against each other in a contest, and your film basically makes itself. Air Guitar Nation cheerfully adheres to this formula, documenting the world of competitive air guitar “playing.”

Right off the bat, there is, of course, a crucial difference. While spelling bees and crossword competitions attract colourful characters, they also demand an actual, measurable skill, whereas air guitar involves a more nebulous talent—an ineffable je ne sais quoi that those in the community define as “airness.” The doc’s main characters, part-time musician Dan Crane (alias Björn Türoque) and computer programmer/aspiring actor David Jung (aka C. Diddy) display their undeniable airness alongside dozens of competitors in New York and L.A., then fly to Finland where they compete against each other along with the world’s best.

There’s a mild political undertone to the film, very much observational rather than polemical. The organizers of the U.S. tournament, after taking heed of the international competition, got the notion that the U.S., being the birthplace of rock ’n’ roll, is somehow predestined for world air guitar domination. This sense of manifest destiny is uncomfortably reminiscent of certain recent U.S. global policies, and this jingoism is underscored by the American audiences chanting “USA! USA!” at the shows. But when the air guitarists travel to Finland, they realize that not only is there a distinctive European approach to the form, but that the original founders have an unexpected pacifist mission that contrasts with the USA’s tarnished international image. The competition thus becomes not just about air guitar supremacy, but redeeming the U.S. in the eyes of the world.

There’s no deeper political or other insight, and nary a hint of a critical stance (the doc was executive-produced by the organizers of the U.S. championship). And all this context, of course, is merely a backdrop to lots of footage of dudes (and a few chicks) madly rocking out bedroom-style onstage. Slight but thoroughly enjoyable, the film coasts on the charm of its characters and the inherent absurdities of their chosen means of expression.

Air Guitar Nation opens this Friday, March 30

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