When it comes to stealing intellectual property, asking for permission is overrated. The same goes for dangerous stunts, particularly that of the skydiving variety, especially if it means a shot at playing a gig at the most esteemed live venue in your hometown. At least, that’s the logic preached by Canadian trailblazer Matt Johnson, forever a bold and unabashed success story of stretching the legal limits of what you can capture on-camera in the spirit of anarchic fun. Starting off his career starring in and directing the hidden gem web series Nirvana the Band the Show alongside friend/band mate/composer collaborator Jay McCarrol, the concept of two best friends constantly trying and failing to book a show for their non-existent band at Toronto’s Rivoli club became a launchpad for just about every direction the duo could pull their characters in, ranging from the reverential and silly to the fantastical and downright dangerous.
Adding an extra ‘n’ to ‘Nirvana’, their deal with Viceland gave them a bigger platform for bigger ideas across two wildly unpredictable but entirely adorable seasons, making them a force to be reckoned with on the cult comedy scene, pulling mad stunts like spoiling excited fans’ opening night experience at a Force Awakens screening and even throwing in an Evil Dead-style cursed book episode that redefines the limits of just what the world of the show could do.
And when the rules of Matt and Jay’s silly little lives are as elastic as this, why can’t they travel through time? After all, whenever there’s a flashback in the show, there’s always a slight variation on what we’ve already seen, some revelatory extra detail that bends the reality of the hyper-real (and surreal) mockumentary around on itself. So of course it makes sense that their big-screen debut (*deep breath, counting on one hand* Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie) hinges a fake time travel plot to convince the Rivoli bookers to get them on-stage to prevent a terrible apocalypse actually and accidentally results in Matt and Jay throwing themselves back to 2008, courtesy of an RV going at 88mph and a toy flux capacitor powered by long-discontinued Canadian soft drink Orbitz (containing “a bolt of lightning in every bottle!”). 2008 proves to be a danger zone for the two, not only in terms of wild political incorrectness, but in very intense butterfly-effect stakes as their paths err very closely to their spritely, optimistic young selves, AKA a funhouse mirror reflection that threatens to break up the band for good.
If that all sounds very Back to the Future, then yes, that is what the boys are riffing on in this week’s extended special presentation of Nirvanna the Band the Show. In studiously following the ‘don’t-think-about-it-too-much’ paradox rules of Robert Zemeckis’ beloved 80s classic, Johnson and McCarrol have a lot of fun recreating the stakes, sounds and sensations of a bonafide excitement machine; McCarrol on composing duties does a wonderful job of imitating Alan Silvestri’s twinkling score to the point where you’re half-convinced they just lifted it without permission, and a rather spectacular final set-piece using Toronto’s half-kilometre-high CN Tower as this film’s Hill Valley clocktower injects significant local flavour to the rising action.
To say Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is one ‘For The Fellas’ is perhaps generalising, but there is rarely a portrait of purer platonic love between men that hits as sweetly and sincerely as this.
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Yet for all of the film’s slavish attention to Back to the Future’s detail, there’s a fine line between affectionate parody and straight-up thievery, which Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie occasionally falls foul of. It is nice to see a city as lively and architecturally-interesting as Toronto get given the same treatment as a studio backlot, and Johnson’s keen eye for a great unsuspecting reaction shot from a baffled member of the public is as sharp as ever. The only letdown is that the best episodes of Nirvanna the Band the Show slammed together their references in often chalk-and-cheese pairings; one of the best sees them riff on Star Wars before taking a sharp about-face towards Netflix’s Daredevil. There’s a refreshing looseness in the Show that the Movie doesn’t possess in its riffs, and fares far better when it’s being a true original.
Thankfully, there is so much here that we haven’t seen before, often literally. The original run of the show amassed a considerable archive of unused material that Johnson mesmerisingly splices in with brand-new footage; there are so many shots here where past and present collide, happening so quickly that you barely have a chance to work out how they did it before you’re being dazzled by the next.
And behind the incomprehensible behind-the-scenes innovation, therein lies the heart of the film, where Matt and Jay are forever in the same repeating motions of planning to play the Rivoli and getting further and further from pulling it off as time goes by. Their willpower defies any logic, instead pushed along by an inextricable bond: that between impoverished male roommates with too many movies under their belt and nowhere near enough artistic output to fuel their dreams. To say Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is one ‘For The Fellas’ is perhaps generalising, but there is rarely a portrait of purer platonic love between men that hits as sweetly and sincerely as this.
That’s what lingers, yes, but is it actually funny? Like its small-screen predecessor, very much so. Johnson is such a good reactive actor and is able to snipe out some incredible baffled mug face from run-and-gun cinematographer Jared Raab, and seeing him fail to laugh at a particularly 2008 joke in a preview screening of The Hangover is as perfect a penny drop moment as you’ll find. McCarol has more of a straight-man part to play, yet there’s great mirth found in the shit-eating grin of his alternate universe self, and his instant regret upon playing his favourite game in this new reality serves up the film’s best gag. There’s certainly fun to be had in the earnest reactions of fellow Torontonians to the pair’s silly antics, yet the sharpness of the performances and writing around the mockumentary trappings is just as good.
Finally arriving in UK cinemas after a long and tumultuous distribution debacle, whether the biggest outing for Matt and Jay to date will fully translate to those outside of its cult is up for debate. Acclimating to the anarchy might take a few cherrypicked episodes of the Show to fully settle in, but at the same time, the film’s creators are gambling with many things, their lives included, so why not do the same with their word-of-mouth hit? Legally, we’re lucky to have it, so enjoy it while your fellow audience members can do the same.
NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE IS FINALLY PLAYING IN THE UK
SIMON’S ARCHIVE – NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE
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