"MOGWAI: BURNING"

Year: 2010
Running time: 48 min.
Language: English
Directors: Vincent Moon & Nathaniel Le Scournac

Synopsis: How many people have walked out of great concerts saying something like, "Wow, I wish they'd make a live album"? The perverse, hidden truth of that idea is that no live album can ever live up to the experience that just impressed you so much. Live albums work as souvenirs for the faithful and sometimes as introductions for the novice. But anyone who has seen Mogwai live and had the top of his head peeled off by its rendition of "Mogwai Fear Satan", anyone who left that concert wishing that Mogwai's studio albums lived up to the sheer furious Ragnarok of the band's live presence .

Mogwai's in-concert document, Burning, features not a single master shot. Not only that, there's no between-song banter; no from-the-stage shots of the indefinable crowd rising as singular, cheering mass; no attempt, even, to fake. Caught 'Live!'

Still, it's far more fun to watch the DVD: to see the fingers on strings, the light on cymbals, the discreet glances shared between Mogwai's members; to, even better, see the individual faces of audience-members, all tranced-out bliss or stupid big smiles. Burning personalizes the experience for all involved: the band, the crowd, and, best of all, for the viewer stuck at home watching this thing.

The movie, directed by Vincent Moon and Nataniel La Souanec, features footage of the band from their three Music Hall Of Williamsburg gigs in Brooklyn.