Scott Walker: 30 Century Man

Joy Division

The pitch: The melancholic post-punk

The Rocker

The pitch: “Most people know me as

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

The pitch: This Is Spin¨al Tap may have

The pitch: As influential as he is

enigmatic, the ’60s pop star turned

icons already received cinematic

treatment in last year’s Control, Anton

the uptight, creepy weirdo from The

Office,” admits Rainn Wilson, who

been a goof, but Sacha Gervasi’s frank

document of pals Robb Reiner and

brooding experimentalist gets his due

Corbijn’s B&W biopic about tragic

gets to cut loose in this devil-horned

Steve “Lips” Kudlow—founders of the

in this doc from director Stephen Kijak,

who was allowed a rare opportunity

frontman Ian Curtis. In this well-

balanced tribute, rock-doc pro Grant

comedy as Robert “Fish” Fishman, a

former ’80s heavy-metal drummer

titular “demigods of Canadian metal”—

and their fall into total obscurity is

to interview the notorious recluse

while filming him at work on 2006’s

Gee (who directed Radiohead’s Meeting

People Is Easy) better contextualizes their

who was kicked out of the band just

before it became megahuge. Now a

hilariously, heartbreakingly true.

Why it rocks: Gervasi had to break the

nightmarish masterpiece The Drift.

legacy within the Manchester scene,

recovering loser, Fish gets one last

news to the painfully earnest Anvil:

Why it rocks: Where else will you see a

from their early days as Warsaw through

chance at fame when he joins his

You guys are freakin’ hilarious. “The

studio session involving the pounding of

the rising-phoenix years of New Order.

high-school-age nephew’s emo band.

drummer is called Robb Reiner, and

raw meat? If you need further proof of

Why it rocks: With so many indie acts still

Why it rocks: Audiences will get to see

Lips plays his Flying V with a dildo while

Walker’s underappreciated genius, just

trying to rip off Joy Division’s hypnotic

the funnyman’s musical training in

wearing a bondage harness. How can

listen to the onscreen testimonials from

sound, this comprehensive trip down

action. “I’m okay. I can play ‘Round and

that not be funny?” says Gervasi. He’s

Radiohead, Brian Eno, Johnny Marr,

memory lane will yield unknown

Round’ by Ratt,” Wilson says modestly.

right, but the tone here is never mean-

Alison Goldfrapp, Jarvis Cocker, Damon

pleasures to fans and newbies, as Gee

And for the Beatlemaniacs, Wilson

spirited, and you don’t have to be a

Albarn, and David Bowie, whom Kijak

had access to rare archival footage.

boasts about a special cameo in the

metalhead to love an underdog, as the

asked to be an executive producer.

“We got to use sections of a Super 8

film: “We actually got George Harrison

director explains: “Like many innovators,

“He’s the most high-profile Scott Walker

film, The Factory Flick, that hadn’t been

to do a scene….No, that’s not right. But

they fell through the cracks and didn’t

fan out there,” says the filmmaker. “And

seen since 1979,” says Gee. What else

I got to do a scene and hang out with

get the credit they deserved. For

he’s very generous with his admiration

can audiences glean that they couldn’t

Pete Best, one of the most famous least

every Edison, there’s a Tesla. For every

for Scott. Thanks, David!”

have from Control? “Color, lots of color.”

famous musicians of all time.”

Metallica, there’s an Anvil.”

When it drops: Spring or summer

When it drops: June (on DVD)

When it drops: October

When it drops: TBD

Young@Heart

The pitch: Since 1982, musical director

Bob Cilman has led a Northampton,

Massachusetts senior-citizen chorus,

whose repertoire includes covers of

Ramones, the Clash, and Coldplay.

Stephen Walker’s rousing doc sits in as

Celluloid Heroes

they rehearse for a sold-out show.

GERMS, STONES, CSNY, AND FALCO (!) ARE GOING TO THE MOVIES

Why it rocks: Octogenarians singing

CSN Y DÉJÀ VU

NERDCORE RISING

SOUL MEN

SHINE A LIGHT

Sonic Youth’s “Schizophrenia”—what’s

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (with

“Geeksta rap” figurehead MC

Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie

From the sheer number of

not to love? But initially, even Walker

Neil directing under his filmic

Frontalot’s first national tour

Mac are comin’ to ya on a dusty

times “Gimme Shelter” appears

was skeptical. “When I was first dragged

pseudonym, Bernard Shakey)

propels a survey of hip-hop’s

road as estranged R&B backup

on his soundtracks, Martin

unsubtly make their antiwar

dorkiest subgenre, with Jello

singers who travel cross-country

Scorsese is clearly a Stones fan.

by my producer to see them in London, I

feelings known on their summer

Biafra, Prince Paul, and proto-

for their former bandleader’s

His fairly straight-ahead concert

thought, ‘This is a gimmick. It’s going to

2006 Freedom of Speech tour.

nerdcore icon “Weird Al”

memorial concert at Harlem’s

doc focuses on 2006’s A Bigger

be awful,’” he recalls. “Then 92-year-old

Yankovic.

Apollo Theater.

Bang tour.

Eileen Hall comes up to the microphone

and screams the opening words of

NICK AND NORAH’S

INFINITE PLAYLIST

Superbad’s Michael Cera is a

WESLEY WILLIS’S JOYRIDES

A candid celebration of the late

FALCO: VERDAMMT, WIR

LEBEN NOCH!

WHAT WE DO IS SECRET

ER’s Shane West pulled off

‘Should I Stay or Should I Go,’ and the

teenage “nonqueer bassist in a

cult figure, a schizophrenic and

Roughly translated as “Damn,

playing late Germs member

whole house goes wild. It became really

queercore band” who spends a

prolific punk rapper who lovingly

We’re Still Alive!” this rise-and-

Darby Crash so uncannily in this

obvious that she’s not singing about

New York night searching for an

head-butted his fans.

fall biopic of Austrian new

biopic that the L.A. punk legends

underground show with a witty,

waver Johann Hölzel features a

actually had him front the band

relationships, but life and death.”

sexy stranger (Kat Dennings) as

on tour. A.H.

When it drops: April 9

heartbroken as he is.

most baffling costar: Rock me,

Grace Jones?