When I first saw this trailer, on the Apple movies site (YouTube version linked above), I thought it looked a little bit pretentious. Also, it rubbed me the wrong way that there was clearly gravity in the scenes that take place on the space station (for the record: that’s okay in future sci-fi movies, where you can pretend that they are rotating, or have artificial gravity engines, or something, but this looked like it was a current-tech space station).
Also, there didn’t seem to be even the hint of a coherent plot, with images of an astronaut cut against a Civil War soldier, an Iraq War soldier, and some lonely, late-night skateboarding.
Finally, I was worried by the symbolism of the title “Love” and figured that the director was probably wildly overreaching.
And then I found out that the movie is actually a music video writ large, for Angels & Airwaves, a band which is basically a side project to alt-rockers from Blink-182, The Offspring and 30 Seconds to Mars (and more).
That’s when I started to get excited. The film is not a movie per se. Instead, it’s a video accompaniment to to a concept album. Now *that* is something that I can get behind.
I’m not sure why, but I’m willing to be far more forgiving of a musician or a band’s pretentiousness. Perhaps it is because I feel that musicians, especially those who produce rock operas and concept albums, are likely to have more artistry even in their failings than many movie-makers will in their successes.
The album, and movie, Love, will be released on (fittingly) Valentine’s Day. It’s supposed to be a free download. I’ll give it a whirl for sure! Check out the website here.
Grant Hamilton
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