Ryan McNeil
If you’ve ever listened to rock and roll, at one point you’ve played an imaginary guitar to an imaginary audience. You might be a geek, a loser, and utterly musically talentless…but for three minutes or so, you are Eddie Van Halen. You are Eric Clapton. You are Slash, Edge, and Flea all rolled into one. Hell – you’re better than all of them! Now imagine audiences lining up around the block to watch you do it. Imagine spots on national TV and trips to other countries. Well, it all exists, and it’s the fun subject of AIR GUITAR NATION.
The doc looks at the international air guitar circuit (yes, there is one). The Air Guitar World Championships have been held since 1996 in Finland. For the first seven years however, America (arguably the home of rock & roll) was never represented – that’s where the doc picks up the story. It seems that America’s hopes rest on the shoulders of two air-ists. The first is David Jung, stage named “C. Diddy“. His samurai energy has to be seen to be believed, and never gets old no matter how many times you’ve watched his act. The second is Dan Crane, aka “Bjorn Turoque“. He’s an awesome air-shredder if ever there was one, but he always seems to be playing one goal behind.
What makes the story work, is how everyone involved is so passionate about air guitar. We all have our odd obsessions…that which we spend a bit too much time and money on in the eyes of others (c’mon…admit it, you know what I’m talking about). In AIR GUITAR NATION, everyone seems to stand squarely on the line between good humour and misunderstood genius. They know the notion is a bit absurd, but they’re all just having far too much fun to care.
The rebels and dreamers in AIR GUITAR NATION are the sorts who would likely think that pastimes like Guitar Hero are for those with lack of vision. One airist suggests that air guitar is actually the only pure art form, since it can’t be corrupted. He makes his point by asking “How do you commercialize something invisible?”.
Good luck arguing with that.