Anvil: The Story of Anvil

Just an amazing, emotional movie. Cinderella, against all odds!

What comes across is the brotherly ups and downs of being in a band and living closely with those band mates whilst trying to make it in showbiz.Great doc that was engaging, unflinching and above all honest about it's subject showing the lows and the mids.

Super Rock '84 in Japan was a touring rock festival that had Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, Scorpions, Michael Schenker Group and Anvil playing. Of these bands, Anvil had the least success, but it wasn't for lack of effort.

This was one of the newer editions to the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, this was described as being like This Is Spinal Tap, so I wasn't sure if it was a mock film or real life, but I was looking forward to this rockumentary either way, from director Sacha Gervasi (Hitchcock). Rock bands like Scorpions, Whitesnake and Bon Jovi have become very successful and influential, selling millions of records and filling concert venues, and since the 1970's the rock band Anvil have tried to live the same dream, they are indeed influential, but have got nowhere close to the same success.

This documentary is supposedly about the band Anvil but it felt more personal. We are really following the members and their lives.

Steve 'Lips' Kudlow is the lead guitarist and Robb Reiner is the drummer of Canadian heavy metal band Anvil. They get praises from the heavy metal Gods and their compatriots from the early 80s but nobody seems to know what happened to them.

Before this film, I had only briefly heard of Anvil by thumbing through old metal records in my search for bands that had escaped mainstream eyes. I never much gave them a listen, and it wasn't until a few years ago when I saw Anvil: The Story of Anvil that I went back after viewing the documentary, so I could listen to their tunes.

This was a real movie, with a story, an arc and an uplifting message. Seeing these good old boy canuck-heads in my home town of Toronto, slugging it out for their dreams in their 50s was something really close to my heart.

Anvil: The Story of Anvil follows a commercially unsuccessful but influential Canadian heavy metal band having one last shot at their dreams. This may be a documentary, but it plays out like a fiction film.