Stuff That I Saw: I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is a documentary about the creation of the band Wilco's monumental album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Sort of. What's interesting about the documentary is that it isn't so much about the recording of the album itself as it is about the problems Wilco faced getting the record actually released. In fact, by the halfway point of the movie, the album is already completely finished.

It's a really great movie, filmed in stark black-and-white and showing a band who is at a turning point in their career (which certainly ended up being true; Yankee Hotel Foxtrot shot Wilco to alt-rock superstar status, and is generally considered their finest hour). What the film ends up really being about is the music business itself, and a band's unwillingness to compromise their artistic integrity in the face of label pressures.

What's cool about this documentary (and I guess Wilco as a band) is that you can tell everyone in the band is basically normal. Nobody in the band seems to be an eccentric genius, alcohol/drug abuser, or ladies' man (though there is one hilarious scene where a bunch of girls ask bassist John Stirrat to sign their asses). Jeff Tweedy especially, the guitarist, singer and main songwriter of the band, is a perfectly normal guy; he's married with two kids, is a little shy and awkward around fans, and just generally seems like a really dedicated, hard-working guy.

Director Sam Jones keeps the pace at a steady clip throughout the brisk hour and a half runtime. Peppered between interviews is footage of the band rehearsing, recording, and mixing the songs and some very nicely-shot live performance clips. The DVD itself is a really nice package, containing a bunch of extra performance clips and deleted, as well as some live Jeff Tweedy solo tunes and a short making-of feature (which, yes, seems a little bit odd, but it's very short and gives some interesting insight about the documentary-filming process and why Jones decided to make Wilco his first project).

This film is a real treat for Wilco fans; we get to see a band actually recording their magnum opus! That's incredible! Can you imagine how cool it would be to, say, see Radiohead make OK Computer (or, in my opinion, Kid A, but that's another post altogether)? Or The Beatles make Abbey Road? It's amazing that the creation of such a seminal album is documented here, and the best part is that seeing this film actually adds a layer of depth to the album, making it even more enjoyable. So, in short: cool band, interesting predicament, great performance clips and a higher understanding of the context in which the album was created, making an already deep album even deeper. Really, what more could you ask from a music documentary?

-Daniel