Mistaken for Strangers was directed by Tom Berninger, Matt's younger brother, and it appears that the movie was initially going to be your average life-on-the-road curio. Tom is nine years younger than Matt and the black sheep of the Berninger clan. One’s a successful indie rock star, the other’s a wannabe filmmaker-slash-metalhead who can’t seem to get his act together. Filmed during the group’s European jaunt to promote 2010’s High Violet, Mistaken for Strangers came about because Matt recruited Tom to be a band roadie, figuring it might be a good experience for his unfocused brother. “I feel like I’m on the outside looking in,” he laments, as if this were not actually the truth. The National's Matt Berninger has revealed that he and his brother Tom are working on a sequel to the acclaimed film Mistaken For Strangers, as well as a TV show. Meanwhile, Tom wonders what kind of influence he can possibly have on Matt’s increasingly bizarre life, with bittersweet results. However, this is an independent publication: we take care not to let commercial relationships dictate the editorial stance of content or the writing staff. (I will never ever sell or share your email address. They say that love is a virtue, don’t they? He's far too plagued with his own self-doubt to blame him for his own shortcomings. At first Mistaken for Strangers feels almost like a parody of rock docs, highlighting Tom’s goofy direction of the band members — so he can get those “cool” portrait shots every film like this needs — and Matt’s frustration with Tom’s seeming lack of focus for the film. Tom observes The National's fame - including playing for Barack Obama - from a distance, but by the time the band play through 'Terrible Love' in its entirety (the only National track that gets a full airing), you'll believe he's in a place where he feels accepted. Mistaken for Strangers is a 2013 documentary film featuring the American indie rock band The National.The film is directed by Tom Berninger, brother of lead singer Matt Berninger, and premiered April 17, 2013 at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. There are moments of extreme candour throughout, as the film swerves woozily between post-gig, confessional intimacy, and laugh-out-loud, Spinal Tap-ish embarrassment. As a portrait of brotherhood, and the terrible love that exists between family, Mistaken for Strangers is a curiously moving achievement. How Tom copes will be almost agonizingly poignant for anyone who has struggled to do their own thing, not least which because it’s plain in retrospect that what seemed like Tom being an idiot early on is in fact Tom’s painfully honest self-deprecation about his own hangups and issues that have nothing at all to do with Matt. "[3] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Bad Times At the El Royale: A messy but stylish noir, Life Is Strange 2 episode 1 review: Road trip. But speaking for myself, it was always the National’s sincerity that was more attractive than their cool. The thrilling eight-episode mini-series, based on the Harlan Coben novel of the same name, c… Mistaken for Strangers is a film that I saw back in early 2014 at the IFC Center in New York. Instead, it's a sweetly funny and emotionally engaging piece about two brothers running along two different paths in life. Matt offers Tom a job as a roadie on their High Violet tour, and the younger sibling brings a camera along for the ride with a view to making a behind-the-scenes rock and roll picture. But Tom, an aspiring filmmaker, decided to seize the opportunity and put together a documentary of the tour, even though nobody involved with the band or its tour operation really wanted one. "They're so coffee house, you're more rock and roll," he tells drummer Bryan Devendorf at one point. [5] Ann Hornaday in her review for The Washington Post described it as "a funny, eccentric and finally deeply poignant depiction of art, family, self-sabotage and the prickly intricacies of brotherly love. We should all have the courage to confront our demons the way that Tom Berninger does here. flickfilosopher nav. The film’s genetic antecedent is 1998’s Meeting People Is Easy, the seminal Grant Gee movie that charted the progression of Radiohead from alternative noise heroes to champions of the world. Needy and floundering, Tom comes across as a mildly tragic figure, which puts the audience in the same position as Matt, sympathetic but also aware that this guy needs to grow up if he’s ever going to make something of himself. Mistaken for Strangers Critics Consensus. Bohemian Rhapsody review: Not (quite) a kind of magic. How do you persevere through what feels like creative failure? International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. please help keep truly independent film criticism alive! Mistaken for Strangers isn’t even really a film about rock music at all… or not only about rock music. film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997, based on the Aggregate theme by Elegant Themes | powered by WordPress, worth a look, but wait for DVD, unless your favorite actor is in it, Copyright (c) 1997-2020 MaryAnn Johanson. That shouldn’t interfere too much with the work he’s been hired to do, right? on Netflix globally; dvd/vod US/Can ; dvd/vod UK/Ire; movies for the resistance; movies by/about women. All rights reserved. Over the course of several albums, the Brooklyn indie-rock quintet the National have perfected their aura of melancholy cool, their songs rich with cloudy-day introspection. (The band is something of a family affair: The other four members consist of two different sets of brothers.) At last, something to call his own. Occasionally, the siblings find middle ground, and ditch the tussling in favour of a kind of tentative peace. DIGITAL SPY, PART OF THE HEARST UK ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK. We've all seen musicians wrestle with their creative demons before, but what Mistaken for Strangers does brilliantly is look at a heralded group from the perspective of a family member seemingly left behind. This instantly makes him an endearing and empathetic subject. And sure, at a first, rather apprehensive glance, this droll and strangely poignant endeavour about Cincinnati miserablists the National certainly draws on some of that jazz. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. Tom Berninger chronicles his time spent on the road as a member of the tour crew for The National, the rock & roll band fronted by his brother, Matt. Photo gallery - BFI London Film Festival in pictures:BFI London Film Festival 2013. This quintet’s studied cool might drop a few notches in outsiders’ eyes because of this sometimes painfully honest and heartfelt documentary. Seemingly ordinary dudes with families, the band members have always leaned toward the quieter, moodier side of the indie-rock spectrum, and Mistaken for Strangers doesn’t disabuse us of the impression we have of them. Unlike his colleagues, Matt is the only member who doesn’t have a brother in the band. Before long Tom is given his marching orders by the tour manager and the film's focus shifts to become about his own personal struggles and underachievement. see my critic’s minifesto). Best of BBC iPlayer And so the documentary turns darker and more inward, as Tom ponders why his brother became a success while his own aspirations have produced nothing. This is more an extended family home movie than anything else, but one that's extremely poignant and moving. Watch trailers & learn more. A selfish reminder of home, maybe? Does the new Halloween movie live up to the hype? We should all have the courage to confront our demons the way that Tom Berninger does here. Mistaken for Strangers is not a film for those wanting performance footage of The National tearing through their back catalogue. No doubt Mistaken for Strangers will chiefly attract the National’s fans, and we do get to see the band members’ personalities emerge a little. (I’m embarrassed to admit I’d never heard of the band before I saw this film; my obsession for keeping up with new music ended when keeping up with movies took over.) National's 'Mistaken for Strangers' trailer, The National to open Tribeca Film Festival. A suitably complicated look at fraternal bonds, Mistaken for Strangers offers more depth and insight than the usual tour documentary. VOD film review: The National: Mistaken for Strangers. It’s at this realisation that the film smash cuts to an important credit: “A Film by Tom Berninger”. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. There are the usual behind-the-scenes moments where we see what a drag touring is when the band isn’t on stage—lots of boring downtime and tedious logistical busywork—but Tom’s accidental portrait of the National does manage to humanize the group in a refreshingly offhand way. Director: Tom Berninger He’s in something of a rut, at least at the beginning. Tim Grierson is chief film critic for Paste and the vice president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Watch Mistaken for Strangers online in the UK: iTunes / Curzon Home Cinema / TalkTalk TV. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Venom review: Does Tom Hardy's superhero measure up? It’s about the doubt and the despair that haunts everyone who makes art of any kind. Just to be a roadie, mind, but Tom decides the opportunity is perfect to make a documentary about the band. I wondered at first how intentional this parody approach was; it seems unkind to suggest that this is often as hilarious as This Is Spinal Tap, because Tom, not the band, is the butt of the joke, and Tom’s almost perfect cluelessness is unavoidably in need of a poke: he needs to be reminded that he’s not a member of the band, and that he’s along to work, not to party. Images on VODzilla.co are authorised and subject to restrictions. He floats between jobs, harasses the staff at the local record store, and consumes takeaway Chinese food in abundance. Until a stranger with a secret exposed a dangerous web of lies. Cast: Tom Berninger, Matt Berninger International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Tom, on the other hand, has scarcely left Cincinnati. Tom takes a job as a roadie, a profession for which he’s tragically under-qualified, and joins his brother for an eye-opening, relationship-defining journey across the globe, capturing all the action on video camera. Tom aspires to be a filmmaker and documents The National being on tour, as well as the process of himself making a film about his successful older brother. The star (and director) is Tom Berninger. Conscious of his brother’s directionless existence, Matt invites Tom on the road with the National as they support the release of 2010 album High Violet, a commercial watershed for the band. Director: Tom Berninger Starring: Matt Berninger, Tom Berninger, Bryce Dessner, Aaron Dessner, Scott Devendorf, Bryan Devendorf Release Date: Mar. We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article. My5 Promise. Netflix and third parties use cookies and similar technologies on this website to collect information about your browsing activities which we use to analyse your use of the website, to personalise our services and to customise our online advertisements.

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