Mistaken for Strangers

This is a pretty great film and as a fan of the national I'd been waiting to watch it for ages and it nearly pulls it off. It's funny affecting and obviously the tunes are great, the one thing that let it down slightly for me was the slightly 'scripted documentary' feeling I got in a few places, where you'd questions the veracity of what's happening and why there's a bunch of other camera people shooting a seemingly intimate set up. However, maybe this is being slightly pedantic. At the heart of the film it's a story about two brothers and their relationship and a very universal tale that I certainly related to, I found myself cringing and laughing in equal amounts. Overall well worth checking out.

Mistaken for Strangers is a film that I saw back in early 2014 at the IFC Center in New York. But it's also one of those films I almost forgot I saw- not because I meant to, it just got shuffled briefly out of my memory so far as the title - but I but was extremely glad just now I found the title as the subject matter. You may not know who the Berninger brothers are before going in (or you'll probably know one of them more likely than not), but by the end they leave their mark due to their personalities and how they relate to each other and the world around them.

This is about a filmmaker brother (not a great one, but trying) who follows around his up-n-coming brother musician, who leads the band The National (you may/may not have heard them, big hit singles) while he's promoting a new album and playing concerts. Oh, and there are some incidents that make things awkward, weird and at times it's just a matter of this guy Tom Berninger messing up while kind of 'attached' with this band. Does he know what kind of movie he's making? Does he tell the band? What happens if this all falls apart and he goes back to making schlocky horror movies? Now there's stakes here - at one point the National is even involved at an event with the POTUS (that's an intense, kind of hysterical scene as I recall).

So really, it's about this band The National, but only in the secondary sense. It's much more of a self-portrait, what it means if you keep mucking up your own work and getting in the way of doing what you know you can do creatively (this happens more than once, sometimes just due to the Party-of-One mentality Tom has). But in the light of this guy and his brother - a man who Tom looks up to, but also isn't sure he can really live up to in the sense of creative engagement. Can he make this a great movie? We're along for the ride either way, and it's a funny, affecting, and honest on all sides kind of experience. Charming, even.

Full disclosure: I am a longtime National fan, and I personally think that Matt Berninger is a genius. I watched this movie expecting a traditional band documentary, but even though I would have liked to see more live songs and other musical stuff, I found "Mistaken for Strangers" to be very entertaining and well crafted. Tom is Matt's younger brother, and the movie is mostly centered around his own experience joining the band on tour. He is immature, emotionally unstable, jealous of his brother's success, and kind of annoying, but somehow likable. One of the things that I liked most about the movie is the portrait of the different members of the Berninger family. They all seem like very nice people, and the love and respect that they have for each other (especially Matt and Tom) is evident throughout the film. Seems like both brothers have found a way to channel their own frustration through their art, and the results are very enjoyable in both cases. The movie shows that Tom really has filming talent, and I hope to see more of him in the future (but not exactly the B-class horror / barbarian flicks that he seems to enjoy making). My only complain is that I would have liked to see more of the Dessner and Devendorf brothers, and of course, more National music!

Highly recommend this documentary. It is real and fresh and raw all at the same time. Taps into the human element with emotion and heart. One of the most real movies you may ever see. Don't take it too serious, you will be pleasantly surprised and delighted. Sibling rivalry and seeing how we don't measure up in our families from our parent's and siblings perspective is all confronted in this movie. You will laugh and cry for the characters, they explore how to live life and what is important in life. Very well worth your time. It makes you see the glamorous and drudgery of being in a successful band and what it takes to make it all happen. Ostensibly while looking at the band and its creative process we are given a beautiful look into the organic process of the brother and how he sabotages himself along the way and comes out the other end with a great movie as the result.

Wow, this was not what I expected. I haven't laughed this hard at a documentary since Michael Moore stopped doing them. Briefly, it's loosely based on Matt Berninger's brother Tom's attempts to make a movie about the band.

I have to admit, I had to suppress my inner cynic at many points (who's doing all the filming of Tom? Who's idea was it to come on tour really? Is he really that thick??) but whoever came up with the idea of having Tom do this obviously had some idea what the results would be. I mean one meeting with Tom would have indicated that he would not be capable in pulling together some kind of coherent documentary. As they say, it takes a very smart person to act dumb. But then again some people are just dumb.

When Tom is behind the camera he is strangely reminiscent of Jack Black at his bratty best. He's disappointed that being on tour with a rock band is actually quite boring. He doesn't really have much interest in any band members other than his brother and he uses these conversations to try and understand his relationship with his brother a bit better. The most arresting scenes are when Matt loses it with Tom - they feel very real and you know you are watching that fraternal relationship that has a lot of history.

I love the National but, to be honest, that's of little consequence. Love them or hate them, you will laugh at this (very short) film.