Air Guitar Nation

Air Guitar Nation
by Alexandra Lipsitz

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DVD details

Actor: Angela Shelton, Dan Crane (II), Gordon Hintz, Peter Cilella, Zac Munro
Director: Alexandra Lipsitz
Brand: NEW VIDEO GROUP INC
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 81 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-08-28
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: DOCURAMA

DVD Reviews of Air Guitar Nation

DVD Review: I had tears by the end - srsly!
Summary: 5 Stars

Every now and then I get in a mood to watch a truly goofball movie, and I rented this thinking it would be one of them. And it is, I guess... at least, it started out that way. But in spite of myself I started getting really caught up and rooting for the American air-guitarists through the competition, and actually caring!

It was really rather profound to realize that although the US is the womb, birthplace, and cradle of Rock-and-Roll, there had never yet been a US contestant in the world air-guitar championships. Hard to explain how something can have you laughing one minute, and saying "Hmm...." and sniffling the next... what a roller-coaster ride. Kind of like, umm, Rock-and-Roll, I guess!

Oh, the music is the best of the best, too. I was singing and dancing for days afterward.

Anyway it has really stuck in my mind, and here I am to buy my own copy to put on my shelf of "movies I'm going to make everyone I know watch."

DVD Review: Make Air, Not War
Summary: 5 Stars

Air Guitar Nation is a truly wonderful documentary on the United States first entry into the Air Guitar Championships. This film is just a great look into the comradery of international participants, the hell-bent fury of contestant, Bjorn Turoque, the intensity of the participants attending seminars on air guitar, etc. It will make you wonder, it will make you laugh, it will make you go "hmmmm". Overall, it is an honestly fun movie.

DVD Review: wacky fun
Summary: 4 Stars

"Air Guitar Nation" is probably the best documentary ever made about a non-subject. Air Guitar, for those unfamiliar with the term, is the art of playing heavy metal guitar sans the actual guitar. It's what every spastic, tone-deaf teenager with dreams of one day becoming the next Jimi Hendrix has done in the privacy of his own bedroom since the late 1960's. Who could ever have imagined that a whole subculture and cottage industry would one day spring up around an activity that most of us probably never admitted to doing even to our closest buddies?

Yet, that is exactly what has happened, and in its rise to semi-"respectability," Air Guitar has gathered unto itself a bevy of impassioned, hardcore fans who see nothing crazy in cheering on a wannabe guitarist as he mimics the moves of actual music-making immortals like Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton on stage. Indeed, the Air Guitar movement even boasts its own roster of revered icons and pioneers and has established well-attended competitions on the local, national and international level as a means of showcasing its finest talents and garnering itself some much-needed publicity. The movie follows two of the key figures in the field, C-Diddy and Bjorn Turoque - each with his own very different hard rocker persona - as they head to the 2003 Air Guitar championship held in Oulu, Finland.

The basic charm of "Air Guitar Nation" lies in its ability to acknowledge the silliness of the whole concept while, at the same time, evincing a genuine, heartfelt affection for both the activity and those who participate in it. Indeed, far more time is spent getting to know the "musicians" as people than in watching them actually perform. What is most striking about the young men is just how reserved, shy and self-effacing they are by nature until they take to the stage and simply cut loose with all their wild gesticulations and antics at the behest of the adoring crowd. It is then that they become truly transformed, so much so that even the most cynical scoffer may find himself caught up in the spirit of the moment, sweating out the contest's ultimate outcome right along with the participants. The men also face their inexplicable status as celebrities with a clear-eyed rationality, not taking themselves or their accomplishments all that seriously (their satirical names alone reflect that playful spirit), a fact that makes the whole thing at least palatable for those who still may not quite "get it" even after the closing credits have rolled on by.

DVD Review: Full of Airness
Summary: 5 Stars

No doubt about it, Air Guitar Nation rocks. The competition is fascinating, as well as the stories of the film's two main subjects--C-Diddy and Bjorn Turoque.

After watching this film, I've been rocking on my imaginary guitar along with any song I hear...probably not the safest move while driving, but my chops need some work before the 2008 season starts.

DVD Review: A fun flick
Summary: 3 Stars

3.5 stars

The hyperbole of the other reviews here is extreme; comparing this to Spinal Tap is way off base. It's nowhere near as funny, fresh, or ingenious. Yeah, it's good, but it ain't one of the great documentaries of all time.
This is indeed a fun film, full of good vibes and nice guys. But damn, it's just slooow at points! The filmmakers keep it basic, and I think they lost a lot of potential humor doing that.
I may be biased in that I saw The King of Kong a couple of months ago, and that to me was the truly classic movie others found this to be. Side by side, Air Guitar comes off as a student film, not technically, but in that while Kong often surprises and plays with your expectations, this film merely shows what happened, and somewhat blandly at times. AGN is just straight narrative, and while all the characters are pleasant, the only real pay-off is when C. Diddy gets the approval of his parents at the end, and his Mom does the metal sign. That was touching, but the rest of this movie was merely a fair doc on a funny subject, and nothing that really involved me. I just think it could have been cut and paced in a more rock and roll way, in light of its subject.
Hey, I love air guitar and real guitar, but I've seen way better air guitarists than this many times in many places. As far as humor goes, I laughed out loud during King of Kong nine times (I started counting after four; it's rare to get that many big laughs out of my jaded humor center); I didn't really have one gut laugh during this film. Just a lot of smiles. I'm all for smiles, but they ain't belly laughs.
I liked AGN, but it's far from a masterpiece. No offense to those who love it---each of us must march to his own (air) drummer. Diddy and Bjorn are nice guys, but wait until Billy and Steve get on dvd; now that's some truly five-star goofiness.
I've watched Spinal Tap more than a dozen times; I don't regret watching Air Guitar Nation, but I doubt I'll ever want to see it again.

Description of Air Guitar Nation

A battle of naked ambition played out on the national and ultimately world stage Air Guitar Nation chronicles the birth of the US Air Guitar Championships as legions of aspiring rock stars live out their dreams on a quest to become the world champion in a strange world where musical ability plays second fiddle to virtual virtuosity.Two rock legends emerge and strum their way towards glory and the coveted national title.Samurai warrior "C. Diddy" emerges as an early favorite but Bjorn Turoque is not far behind.Will Bjorn's technical prowess attitude and "airness" be enough to take him to the top or will C. Diddy conquer all to become America's first supreme being of air guitar?System Requirements:Running Time: 81 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre:?DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating:?NR UPC:?767685989036 Manufacturer No:?NVG-9890

Is it a sport? A game? An artform? It may be hard to define, but it's easy to see that air guitar is a lot of fun and immensely entertaining, and so is director Alexandra Lipsitz's Air Guitar Nation, an utterly charming documentary about the young men (and a few women) who in 2003 competed both at home and abroad to determine whose "airness" would rule. Having visited Finland, the longtime home of the World Championship finale (who knew?), the previous year to check out the scene, Kriston Rucker and Cedric Devitt realized that no Americans were included, so they organized the first U.S., er, air-off in New York. It's there that we meet guys who are restaurant managers, software developers, budget analysts, and such in daily life, but who assume names like Air Raid, Krye Tuff, and The Shred when they hit the stage and perform to the music of Motorhead, Judas Priest, Steve Vai, and others while the crowd goes nuts (judges include Tom Morello, who plays real guitar for Rage Against the Machine). Two stars emerge from the pack--David "C-Diddy" Jung (an Exeter-educated actor whose immigrant parents wanted him to be a doctor or lawyer) and Dan "Bjorn Turoque" Crane ("to err is human, but to air guitar is divine")--and we follow them as they head to Oulu, Finland, to take on competitors from all over the globe (more than one of them compares the event to the Olympics). They must first endure Air Guitar Boot Camp, with lessons in "Air Guitar and Groupies" and "Maintaining Your Instrument," but the film takes off when it gets to the competition itself; the performances, all of them about a minute long, are an absolute riot, with all the laughs (intended and otherwise), macho grimacing, and showy moves used by real heavy metal axe-grinders. But while these are basically young folks having a good time, most see air guitar as something, well, transcendent. "It's instant meditation," says one. "It's about freedom to be yourself," adds another. "I'm going to out-weird the world," says C-Diddy. About 40 minutes of bonus material includes deleted scenes and additional performances. --Sam Graham

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