Instrument - Ten Years with the Band Fugazi

Starring:Fugazi
Studio: Dischord
Product Type: DVD

Description

This DVD features a collaboration between filmmaker Jem Cohen and the Washington D.C. band Fugazi, covering the 10 year period of 1987-1996. Far from a traditional documentary, this is a musical document; a portrait of musicians at work. The project mixes sync-sound, 16mm. Super-8 video and a wide range of archival formats, including concert footage, studio sessions practice, touring, interviews and portraits of audience emembers from around the country. Special DVD features include 3 extra live tracks and 2 short films by Jem Cohen.

Customer Reviews:

Fugazi vs. Audience.......2007-04-30

The most prominent thing I took away from this film and from my experiences seeing Fugazi several times in the early - mid 90s is how often the band found itself at odds with idiots in the audience and trying to struggle through a stop/start set.

Has there been any other band in history that was plagued with consistently playing to an audience that has no clue what the band is about?

The Grateful Dead of Punk.......2005-12-27

Well, it starts out with good footage of a show in Washington state. They then hack off the end of the song they are performing. Everything in this film segways into something else. After a while it gets on your nerves. While this is going on Fugazi is trying to shove their left leaning politics down your throat. There is one scene where a woman in her 40's a guess dosen't know anything about Fugazi, but is at the show because she heard about them on NPR. Sheeesh. One scene that is interesting, is when some kid spits on Ian MacKaye and the kid is dragged from the audience by Ian, and is asked to apologize for his actions. The kid dosen't apologize and he is promtly booted from the show. This could have been a great dvd, unfortunately egos and so called art got in the way. HEY FUGAZI, shut up drink a beer and play the music that I like. Leave the politics to the corrupt politians.

Hmmmmm.......2005-08-08

I realy want to give this 5 stars but......

First off this is supposed to be a documentary of Fugazi, who they are, what they do etc... and not a music video, the problem is it is neither.

While the live shots are great as are the interviews with some of the audience outside the shows (something that shows the great diversity of Fugazi's audience which I think is great) too much time is wasted on pointless shots (such as the shots of kids outside a show in New York that seems to last forever)shots of buildings (were they of significance to the band, the cameraman????) the crowd in D.C. The editor seemed to have not understood that while it is common to show crowd shots outside venues in music videos it is not common to show them for 5 to 10 minutes as it can lead to the viewer reaching for the fast forward button.

The interviews with Fugazi were good but too short (considering this video goes on for over an hour)I would have liked to have seen more of that show where Guy was hanging upside down from a basketball net (as I hear it was a kind of 'what happens next')

Good points are showing how Fugazi deals with idiots in the crownd (my favorite are the 'ice cream kids' (watch the DVD you will see what I am talking about) its hilarious)and the extra material which includes several live tracks.

Fugazi are one of my all time favorite bands so I hate to point out the negatives. Dont' get me wrong this is a good DVD, it just could have been a whole lot better. I guess the attempt was to show Fugazi as the community band that they are so would it not have been better if they actually shown something of the D.C. community? More of the venues, the people perhaps some more of how Dischord works?

Get it and see for yourself.

Very well peiced together documentary.......2005-07-02

I thoughorly enjoyed this disc. I found it entertaining, cathartic, funny, and a darn pleasure to watch. Didn't realize how political they can be without throwing their politics down your throat. I respect that. After being a fan of theirs since 90' I can honestly say I wish I got to see them live- this I guess is the next best thing. I love how well this documentary flows together from their humble beginings in 87' to ten years later. Good job guys!

Way Over-Directed.......2005-05-06

Fugazi is one of the best live bands ever. This doc tries way too hard to mimic Fugazi's arty rhythms. When the band is rocking on stage; all is right. Everything else in this piece is fuzzy and aggressively tweaked. When this movie cuts away from the onstage action, it struggles to find a point. A live-performance piece would have been more powerful. This piece kinda flops around. Ian almost uses political-correctness as a kind of goofy performance art. Still, Fugazi was the best live show I've ever witnessed-and this film shows a bit of that. Fanatics need only apply

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