Bunch of Kunst

If you like decent music, you must watch Bunch of Kunst. If you like decent documentaries, you must watch Bunch of Kunst. A raw and uncompromising portrait of the Sleaford Mods and the family and friends who surround them. Christine Franz is clearly a fan of Jason and Andrew's vital music. It's funny and heartwarming in parts but always against the backdrop of austerity Britain.

This film about the Sleaford Mods is one massiv statement about the love you need to do something great in the times where everybody else tries to do something great without love .

While I haven't heard the band for a long time, I first came to know their origins and how witty they would become with Jason Williamson's contribution to The Prodigy's "Ibiza." From thereon, I would give "Divide & Exit" a listen and hearing Williamson talk in a thick, somewhat Northern dialect ranting about weak wages and corgis made me laugh more than any Seth Rogen comedy as of late.

BUNCH OF KUNST is no different. Despite it's strangely vulgar title (just don't flip the 'T' in front of the 'S'), the documentary is more than just an excuse to get a beautiful-looking 18-certificate for "very strong language", it's an excuse to show one of Britain's most important musical acts in a long time.

Not since Boards of Canada and Future Sound of London have I paid much attention to a group. The Mods' documentary details their release and status as a 'punk'-oriented, anti-establishment act as they create their successor to the awesome "Divide & Exit", "Key Markets." Featuring Williamson putting on a towel like the Pharaoh and then seeing Andrew Fearn (the silent, lanky lad with the laptop) talking about canal boats is just comedy gold and very familiar too. Given their origins as an independent group, you feel some of their pain as they try to compensate both their skills and the need for money in the age of austerity.

If you like THIS IS SPINAL TAP or found HATED: G.G. ALLIN, you'll definitely love this un-PC, foul-mouthed, out-there music film that details someone that people might find as just another Streets, Fall rip-off or the next best thing since the Sex Pistols.

Review by, Skinny Ebert (S.E.)

Iggy Pop loves these guys - Nottingham loves these guys - you'll love these guys !!! Bunch of kunst is a rare beast - it's an honest and insightful look into a band that are on the cuspt of something - from humble beginnings to giving Glastonbury a very very unquie welcoming - this is a documentary which highlights a band waiting to jump into the hurricane and land wherever the 45 takes them. The Sleaford Mods are a unquie band - and god bless them for that - this is them at their purest - from small clubs to arena sized crowds - all met and dealt with with ease - Christine and her crew have truly captured Jason, Andrew and Steve as they are - honest, humouress and most of all - together - mixing the beats and lyrics as they see it day to day - a truly unquie tale of a band that have no place in the charts - but document change and society as they see it - never - never has a band been so prominent in a whirlwind time of change - a must see for all you zombies who ...

I had the fortune of being in Amsterdam during the 2017 documentary film fest and had the opportunity to see this film twice! Both times with the director Christine Franz and Sleafords manager Steve Underwood doing a Q&A.

The filmmaker uncannily catches the Sleafords as they are gathering steam but still playing to small, but rabid, audiences mainly in the UK. I think the director chose the subject because she was a fan and that shows as she really lets the band and their manager be the stars of this doc. You sometimes forget there is a camera trained on the subjects. We see daily life in working class England and how that forms the basis of the Sleafords musical genius; as an American it was really helpful for me to better understand how that discontent factors into the music.

The film logically ends at a point where the band gets some surprising success (I won't spoil it) so it ends on a high note... (no pun intended). For the first time director, I would give her an A+ effort on a subject that could easily have been rather difficult to grasp and make human. And the participation of their manager Steve (who I also met at the Q&A and who is a lovely bloke) was a real important angle in this story.

Can''t wait for the DVD and hope the director makes more films.