Critic's Review
Josh Modell, All Music Guide
For their first foray into home video, independent rock heroes Fugazi didn't just slap together a bunch of music videos they'd already prepared for MTV, probably because they never bothered making any. Instead, the stunning documentary Instrument is comprised of ten years' worth of footage from concerts, TV appearances, and on-the-fly interviews, mostly shot by Jem Cohen, an indie filmmaker who also happened to be a high school friend of Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye.
Cohen distills ten years' worth of footage, covering the band's formation in 1987 through their tenth anniversary concert in their hometown of Washington, DC. Having accumulated so much to pick from, Cohen and the band (who are credited as collaborators on the film) were able to boil ten years down to just under two hours, without a dull moment to be found on screen.
With the exception of a brief few moments at a dinner table, no formal interviews were conducted with the band; rather, Cohen follows Fugazi like a nature show, observing them on stage, on the road, and in the studio. One criticism that has been leveled at Instrument is that footage of Fugazi's extraordinarily energetic live shows is often truncated; only a couple of songs are shown in their entirety. But the tradeoff for shortened songs is the rest of this excellent documentary, which includes everything from MacKaye and fellow singer/guitarist Guy Picciotto being interviewed on public access cable by an eighth grader to MacKaye's famed (and always deserved) confrontations with audience members who don't understand common courtesy.
On the whole, Instrument provides a window into the personalities of one of America's truly great independent rock bands, giving insight into the workings of a band that had, until this point, always been content to let their music speak for them.
Cohen distills ten years' worth of footage, covering the band's formation in 1987 through their tenth anniversary concert in their hometown of Washington, DC. Having accumulated so much to pick from, Cohen and the band (who are credited as collaborators on the film) were able to boil ten years down to just under two hours, without a dull moment to be found on screen.
With the exception of a brief few moments at a dinner table, no formal interviews were conducted with the band; rather, Cohen follows Fugazi like a nature show, observing them on stage, on the road, and in the studio. One criticism that has been leveled at Instrument is that footage of Fugazi's extraordinarily energetic live shows is often truncated; only a couple of songs are shown in their entirety. But the tradeoff for shortened songs is the rest of this excellent documentary, which includes everything from MacKaye and fellow singer/guitarist Guy Picciotto being interviewed on public access cable by an eighth grader to MacKaye's famed (and always deserved) confrontations with audience members who don't understand common courtesy.
On the whole, Instrument provides a window into the personalities of one of America's truly great independent rock bands, giving insight into the workings of a band that had, until this point, always been content to let their music speak for them.
