RUSH IS A BAND

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Adventures of Power; Neil Peart's live-action film debut

UPDATE - 2/6@3:30PM: I can't believe I'd missed this before, but there's a trailer for the film up on YouTube (thanks dinoman).

UPDATE - 2/5@1:11PM: LanceTheShred notes in the comments that Ari Gold (using his Power persona) competed in a competitive air guitar competition two years ago in Minneapolis. He was the only guy in US air guitar competition history to be disqualified for playing air drums instead of air guitar. He unexpectedly played 1 minute of Tom Sawyer and the crowd loved it. Here's the video.

Adventures of Power is a new indie film written by, directed by and starring Ari Gold (not to be confused with the Entourage character of the same name) which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival a couple of weeks ago. I first heard of the film late last year when I was made aware of its internet movie database entry, which listed Neil Peart among the cast of characters playing himself in the film. Needless to say I was intrigued and dug up what I could about the film online. Writer/director Ari Gold is best known for his student-Oscar-winning 2000 short film Helicopter and has made several other short films in addition to acting in many indie flicks. Adventures of Power is his first stab at directing a full-length film. I recently managed to get a screening of the movie and was completely blown away. If you are a Rush fan and especially if you are a drummer, you will love this movie (I think Lance The Shred will particularly enjoy it). It is chock full of Rush references and yes ... a cameo from Neil Peart; his first speaking role in a live-action film.

Adventures of Power is a quirky, unconventional movie in the tradition of Napolean Dynamite (picture Napolean Dynamite meets Footloose meets Rocky) which only takes itself half-seriously most of the time but is also surprisingly touching at times. I'll attempt to summarize it while keeping a straight face; believe me - a difficult thing to do ... this movie is hilarious. It follows Power (played by Ari Gold), a nerdy copper miner from Lode, New Mexico who has a passion for drumming. He became hooked on the drums after hearing Tom Sawyer on the radio after his mother's funeral when he was a boy. The problem is that his father never allowed him to learn to play the drums - so he instead air-drums. Power lives in his hippie Aunt's (played by Jane Lynch) basement, which he has transformed into a shrine to Rush and Neil Peart (his hero). The highlight of his week is displaying his air-drumming prowess on talent night at his aunt's bar. Unfortunately nobody in his small town seems to appreciate his skill except for a local boy who Power has taken under his wing after the boy's father died. After the miners - led by Power's father (played by Michael McKean) - go on strike Power heads to Mexico to participate in an air-drum-off. While there he nearly dies attempting to air-drum Tom Sawyer and is spotted by an air-drum trainer (played by Steven Williams) from New Jersey who asks him to come to Newark to train with his air-drum team. The rest of the film chronicles Power's adventures getting to Newark and training for the ultimate air-drumming competition. Also starring in the film is Adrian Grenier as Power's rival and a sort of quasi-villain, and Shoshannah Stern as Power's love interest. I won't reveal the details of Neil Peart's cameo so as to not spoil anything, but he shows up towards the end of the film and says a couple of lines.

Since the film just debuted, it's too early to know where or when it will be shown in theaters. But there is a rudimentary website up where you can sign up for a mailing list, and a MySpace page has been created as well. You can also check out this great review from Quint at Ain't It Cool News and this Sundance interview (which I've also included below) with stars Ari Gold, Adrian Grenier and Shoshannah Stern. The interview also includes a few clips from the film. This is definitely a movie that Rush fans will enjoy.