      There's a pitch-perfect moment in It Might Get Loud, director Davis Guggenheim's loving homage to rock guitar and three of its more talented practitioners. It comes when the filmmaker follows Jimmy Page, the legendary lead guitarist of Led Zeppelin, into Page's music library, where he puts on one of his favorite 45's--"Rumble" by Link Wray. Up until this point Page has seemed quiet and cautious, secure in his status as one of rock's gods, but unwilling to give too much away. But from the moment Wray's vibrato surf-guitar growls from the speakers, Page's face lights up with glee, and he begins explaining to the cameraman what it is about Wray's performance that spoke to him as a young guitarist. He starts strumming an imaginary guitar, and when Wray rips off a particularly slow, nasty riff, Page laughs out loud over the audacity of it, his face the very picture of unadulterated joy. In that moment he ceases to be Jimmy Page, rock legend, and becomes one of us, just another guy playing air guitar in his bedroom, trying to explain to his buddy why this is the best goddamn guitar solo ever.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
It Might Get Loud (2008)
      There's a pitch-perfect moment in It Might Get Loud, director Davis Guggenheim's loving homage to rock guitar and three of its more talented practitioners. It comes when the filmmaker follows Jimmy Page, the legendary lead guitarist of Led Zeppelin, into Page's music library, where he puts on one of his favorite 45's--"Rumble" by Link Wray. Up until this point Page has seemed quiet and cautious, secure in his status as one of rock's gods, but unwilling to give too much away. But from the moment Wray's vibrato surf-guitar growls from the speakers, Page's face lights up with glee, and he begins explaining to the cameraman what it is about Wray's performance that spoke to him as a young guitarist. He starts strumming an imaginary guitar, and when Wray rips off a particularly slow, nasty riff, Page laughs out loud over the audacity of it, his face the very picture of unadulterated joy. In that moment he ceases to be Jimmy Page, rock legend, and becomes one of us, just another guy playing air guitar in his bedroom, trying to explain to his buddy why this is the best goddamn guitar solo ever.
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