I forgot to check Filmstruck when I made my list of movies to watch, so I went through and added about 20 to my watchlist. I won't get to all of them, of course, but it's good to have options! Anyway, here's two from there.
A Mighty Wind
I think this might be my second favorite Christopher Guest movie (after Spinal Tap, obviously). It is a lot like Spinal Tap in some ways. A Mighty Wind is also a look at a specific subculture focused on the delusions and illusions that the offbeat characters have about themselves and their place in the world. A Mighty Wind, though, expands the scope and the cast list to get a more full picture of the folk music scene of the 60s 40 years later. Because the movie focuses on 9ish musicians across 3 bands, there's both a greater focus on seeing different sides of the industry (we've got a romantic duo, a trio of dudes, and a big 9 piece band, plus managers and peripheral characters for each and the family at the center of all of them putting on a show to remember their father) and a little less space for the characters to become as fully developed as they are in a movie like Spinal Tap (though there are a few exceptions to that broad statement. So even though the movie feels full of caricatures rather than characters, they're still all quite funny and that's the primary goal here.
I like but don't have a deep love for folk music of the era being lampooned here, so there are probably deeper references that I'm missing, but I still had a heck of a good time with these characters. I think this was the first time that I felt something other than general positive feelings towards a Christopehr Guest movie. The Eugene Levy character is surprisingly complex and indeed quite sad. I guess I never found him particularly funny, but he and his relationship with the Catherine O'Hara character form the emotional center of the film and I found it to be quite moving. I never thought I'd write that about one of these movies, but there you have it. It's really good, and the music is pretty good at aping the sound it's supposed to ape, though it's not quite as funny as the songs in Spinal Tap.
Best songs: "A Mighty Wind" is the only one performed in full, so it takes the cake. I do like the "Eat at Joes" song too, mostly because it feels like Harry Shearer's character keeps getting a kick out of the punchline.
A-
Brigadoon
Ok, so the opening song here is just the bee's knees. You've got two guys lost in the Scottish countryside and one of them is Gene Kelly and the other is Van Johnson and they're wearing these absurd suits and everything is obviously a set but that doesn't take you out of it because the next thing that happens is a light pierces through the fog that lifts and reveals the setting's sett-iness even more but also makes everything super magical so that you're already brought into this world where anything can happen if the love is strong enough. How wonderful. The next scene is the small town of Brigadoon coming to life, bright, bold life and the townsfolk singing about how awesome their market square is and you think this might be set in Oz or during one of those ballet fantasies from Singin' in the Rain or An American in Paris and it turns out that you're not wrong. The whole movie operates under this kind of fairy tale/dream logic and there are pointy beards and beautiful dresses and amazing dancing and I found it impossible to resist. Van Johnson is there to remind you of the real world, skeptic that he is, but even he gets caught up in everything. How could you not?
You can trace the whole movie in Cyd Charisse's dresses. During her first number about how she's waiting for love even at the ripe old age of 25, her plain beige dress matches her sensibility. Her sisters are all in these bright costumes but she's still relatively plain. By the time she goes off to gather some heather with Kelly, she starts throwing her legs around and shows off the bright red-orange under-dress (apologies for not knowing the proper terminology) that matches her growing love for him. At her sister's wedding she's in this amazing red dress with a yellow shawl and she's just the picture of love incarnate. No need for shades of gray here, the love is immediate and deep. Which makes Kelly's eventual departure and her acceptance so heartbreaking. The movie's conclusion is breathtaking in it's use of light and shadow, expressionistic and transporting.
Best songs: I didn't really love much of the songs for their lyrical content here, other than "Almost Like Being In Love." But "The Heather on the Hill" is a beautiful dance number and "I'll Go Home With Bonnie Jean" does that Gene Kelly tap thing really well. The score is lush and perfect, too, especially in that last scene.
A-