Neon Bible study

Arcade Fire documentary Miroir Noir is an
intriguing collage of a year in the band’s life

CLIMACTIC COLLAGE: Miroir Noir

by MALCOLM FRASER

Montreal’s fickle hipsters loved Arcade Fire when they were all ours, and just as quickly as they became famous, we were polarized into pro- and anti- camps. But despite the haters, they’re clearly doing something right. Just when we’ve stopped ceaselessly discussing them (Wayne Coyne aside), local director Vincent Morisset brings us Miroir Noir, a poetic documentary on the recording of the Neon Bible album and the subsequent tour.

Eschewing both the tired Behind the Music interviews-and-archival-footage formula and the cinema vérité/reality TV approach that reached its apex with Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Morisset instead assembles a collage of moments. For most of the film, just barely feature-length at 70 minutes, he captures only fragments of songs, and the film includes no interviews whatsoever. In fact, there’s very little speech at all, apart from a series of voice messages from fans calling the band’s promotional hotline, their comments ranging from poignant to absurd and providing a vague structure.

At its weakest points, it’s like a superior student film, charmingly pretentious and full of energy. At its best, the fragmented style gives an idea of a year in the band’s whirlwind life, complete with fleeting moments of beauty. Some viewers might find the lack of context frustrating, but it’s a blessed relief from the clichéd and obvious.

For those of us who saw the band come up playing small clubs, their seemingly limitless rise to stardom was full of reality-check surprises; the film climaxes with one of these moments during a performance, when the house lights come up on a huge, packed stadium. As the band plays its one-two punch of Funeral anthems “Power Out” and “Rebellion (Lies),” for the first time, Morisset allows the songs to play out in full, capturing the band’s anarchic onstage energy and their audience’s ecstatic rapture. Even the most ardent anti-Arcade Fire grump would have to admit that they’re popular for a reason.

If you think the band is pretentious, this film won’t change your mind (we’ll leave aside that most artists in any medium or era generally fit that description). If you love them, it’ll just be more gravy. For anyone left who’s neutral, it’s an impressively creative look at this intriguing musical phenomenon.

MIROIR NOIR SHOWS AT LE NATIONAL
THIS THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 8:30P.M.
(DOORS 7:30P.M.), $12.50