'Having Matt as an older brother kind of sucks. He's a rock star and I'm not'. The words are sighed in resignation by the debutant documentary filmmaker Tom Berninger, who never achieves his goals, and who always gives up before he has even started. His brother is the frontman of The National, and in the darkness of his shadow, Tom documents what it's like to be on tour with the world-famous indie rock band, when he is invited to join as a roadie. A task he takes lightly. He would rather make a documentary about his big brother's band – but without having the faintest idea where to start. With his handheld camera he conducts candid and seemingly meaningless interviews with the world-famous rock men in quirky takes. But just like the documentary, the interviews always end up circling around the two brothers' relationship. As the film progresses, it becomes a self-exposing, revealing study of the two very different brothers. Sidesplittingly funny and tearfully touching.
Tom Berninger, younger brother of The Nationals’ frontman Matt Berninger is a director and actor, known for the Ang Lee directed Taking Woodstock (2009) and the short film Cod Farthing (2009).
Dir.: Tom Berninger
Prod.: Matt Berninger, Carin Besser, Craig Charland
Scr.: Tom Berninger, Carin Besser, Matt Berninger
Phot.: Tom Berninger
Music: The National
Ed.: Tom Berninger, Carin Besser, Matthew Hamachek
Distributor: MonoDuo
Colour
75 mins.
Titanic Film Festival presents some of the latest and most interesting quality music films at the exhibition hall of the A38 Ship. The films are screened in the...