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Anvil! The Story Of Anvil (DVD)
Year: 2009
Rating: M
Director: Sacha Gervasi
Cast: Tiziana Arrigoni, Steve 'Lips' Kudlow, Robb Reiner
Release Date: March 04, 2010
Distributor: Reel
The Film: 4.5
The Disc: 4.0
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5
The bands with the most interesting stories aren't always the ones that hit the big time. Canadian heavy metal band Anvil - the core of which is essentially childhood friends, singer/guitarist Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner - have been slaving away for years, punching out their music to small crowds in grimy clubs all over the world. Though known to metal connoisseurs as early innovators (Slash and Metallica's Lars Ulrich passionately sing their praises), record companies rate them as little more than a nuisance. That doesn't stop Kudlow and Reiner, however, who both work day jobs, but continue to grind away at their life's passion.
Director Sacha Gervasi (a longtime fan of the band) joins Anvil on a ramshackle tour of Europe, in the studio cutting a new album, dealing with record company execs, and at home with their often bewildered but touchingly supportive families. The result is a doco bursting at the seams with honest-to-god pathos and genuine warmth - your heart will literally break as you watch these two committed, unwavering metal warriors crunched by adversity at every turn. It's a music doco of the first order, and the disc comes packed with extras, including commentaries, deleted scenes, and a catch-up featurette.