Director: Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace
Talent: James Murphy, Chuck Klosterman
Release Date: 7 September 2012
The eulogy to James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem rides on the words, “This is our last song.” This documentary focuses on their final gig, played to a packed house in Madison Square Gardens. Yet this is more of a glorious suicide than a funeral procession, as the moment is painted as a moment ending rather than a moment over, and it’s on Murphy’s terms.
Some 13 cameras are trained upon the arena and delve into the hysteria of the crowd as much as what happens on stage, but it feels like the entire situation has been contrived for posterity, so that when future generations discover LCD Soundsystem and ask, whatever happened to them, an enlightened soul can direct them to this film. “They went out at the top,” they will say. “James Murphy decided when they would play the last song.”
Fans with an emotional attachment to the band will get more from this than anyone else. However, even they may question what in the piece really merits a place on the big screen. There is something quite BBC Four about its composition and it would be a really welcome telly treat on a night in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tK7ERRrpzo
Words: Cathal Wogan
