It’s not often that a band can be consistently making amazing music for 50 years and mostly wallow in obscurity. And yet that’s been the story of Sparks, the art-pop band from Los Angeles that consists of Ron and Russell Mael. While Sparks hasn’t been the kind of cultural sensation a la Beatlemania, they’ve left their impact on the culture by inspiring countless artists of various genres and mediums. Now the story of the the Mael Brothers and their decades of incredible creative output comes to the big screen in the new documentary from acclaimed director Edgar Wright, The Sparks Brothers.
The documentary which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year to nearly universal acclaim, feature candid interview with the Mael Brothers as well as an array of collaborators and famous fans, including Beck, Flea, Patton Oswalt, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and many, many more. It’s a lively, thoughtful work of non-fiction filmmaking that will hopefully make many more fans of Sparks, one of my favorite bands and quite possibly very soon to be one of your favorites.
The world will get their long overdue introduction to Sparks when Focus Features releases The Sparks Brothers in theaters June 18, 2021.
The official synopsis for The Sparks Brothers:
How can one rock band be successful, underrated, hugely influential, and criminally overlooked all at the same time? Edgar Wright’s debut documentary THE SPARKS BROTHERS, which features commentary from celebrity fans Flea, Jane Wiedlin, Beck, Jack Antonoff, Jason Schwartzman, Neil Gaiman, and more, takes audiences on a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers/bandmates Ron and Russell Mael celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favorite band’s favorite band.
