You guessed it: Lemmy The Movie will mainly appeal to true
Lemmy fans. Those just curious to understand what the fuss is all about may
need further research, as the documentary tends to get into who Lemmy is today
and uncover a few details into his private life that probably very few of us
knew. What made Lemmy who Lemmy is now, however, the most glorious days of
Motorhead, are mostly relegated to the DVD bonus features, including interviews
and clips from the original line up.
‘Lemmy the Movie’ opens with a bunch of fans of all ages
repeatedly stating he’s ‘God’, then goes on interviewing everyone from Slash to
Metallica to Dave Grohl, all telling us how important an influence Lemmy has
been in their life and career and sharing episodes and anecdotes they came to
share with the legendary rocker. Again, you may be left wondering when, where
and why did he become such legend… But
then again, if you don’t know who Lemmy is, you’d probably be watching (and
reading) something else.
For those of you who know and love Lemmy Kilminster… This is
more than your usual documentary. It’s a job done with the passion and
enthusiasm of two young filmmakers such as Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski; they
take you into his modest, memorabilia crammed house on Sunset, on his tour bus,
playing slot machines at the Rainbow with him. By the end of the movie, you
know what sets apart Lemmy from most other rockstars: while they look down on you
from their golden mansions, he lives pretty much like any other musician on the
Strip would live. If Motley Crue quickly got rid of the whole cockroach infested
house to move to high profile neighbourhoods, Lemmy was happy just getting rid
of the cockroaches and surrounding himself with the same kind of toys and
models you’ll find crammed in my boyfriend’s room.
May be just a female thing, but I found particularly
interesting seeing the hard rocker’s human side, even more human as mostly told
by his son (When would a grown man ever confess his refusal of commitment being
due to early heartbreaks?). Watch for that very fatherly moment when he
indicates the boy as his most treasured possession, just to run back to the
safe rock’n’roll clichés of shared girlfriends and similar 80s backstage antics,
with the poor kid (apparent) approval…
There are plenty of live performances as well, but if that’s
what you’re mainly after, again, you’d better refer to the extra DVD filled
with all kind of features and rarities. There’s Lemmy playing with an actual
army tank, a funny accident involving Justin Hawkins, good old Mario from the
Rainbow, roadies, bandmates, fans, and in the middle of it all a disarmingly
sincere sixty-five years old icon frying chips in a tiny single man
kitchen. There are tales of squats and
days when all you would need to be happy was your music and a roof on your
head, ‘even if it wasn’t yours’.
There may not be an explanation here as why the legend of
Lemmy was born, but there’s a very clear one as why we won’t see a similar one
coming to light in this sad X-Factor era.
