The Sparks Brothers

Jun 18, 2021

2h 20m

★ 7.4

50 years. 25 albums. 345 songs. Unlimited genius.

Overview

Take a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers Ron & Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favorite band’s favorite band.

Genres

Documentary

Music

Production Companies

Complete Fiction

MRC Non-Fiction

The Sparks Brothers Trailers

Cast

Self

Ron Mael

Self

Russell Mael

Self

Beck

Self

Gary Stewart

Self

Mike Berns

Self

Jane Wiedlin

Self

Sal Maida

Self

Christi Haydon

Self

Dean Menta

Self

Harley Feinstein

Self

Tony Visconti

Self

Mike Myers

Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - London's Brixton Academy. They are in bed at night's end. Together, over a period of several months, they pursue a mutual sexual passion whose inevitable stages unfold in counterpoint to nine live-concert songs.

7.1

8 Mile

Nov 8, 2002

For Jimmy Smith, Jr., life is a daily fight just to keep hope alive. Feeding his dreams in Detroit's vibrant music scene, Jimmy wages an extraordinary personal struggle to find his own voice - and earn a place in a world where rhymes rule, legends are born and every moment… is another chance.

7.5

Walk the Line

Sep 13, 2005

A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

7.6

Billy Elliot

Sep 28, 2000

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

7.4

Dont Look Back

May 17, 1967

In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.

10.0

Wintopia

Nov 23, 2019

IDFA and Canadian filmmaker Peter Wintonick had a close relationship for decades. He was a hard worker and often far from home, visiting festivals around the world. In 2013, he died after a short illness. His daughter Mira was left behind with a whole lot of questions, and a box full of videotapes that Wintonick shot for his Utopia project. She resolved to investigate what sort of film he envisaged, and to complete it for him.

8.2

Lady Gaga, a Star Is Born

Nov 24, 2022

Eccentric and provocative, Lady Gaga is undoubtedly the greatest pop diva. The one who is actually called Stefani Germanotta is a brilliant artist, capable of all the excesses, but also a wounded woman, marked by a terrible drama. An artist who had to fight and overcome many humiliations to reach the top. Today, Lady Gaga is an undisputed music star with 230 million records sold, and a film icon thanks to the film "A Star is Born" and her role in "House of Gucci". In less than 15 years, she has become one of the most influential women in the world. To better understand her, those who have known her since her early days reveal her secrets and tell the story behind the scenes of the films and songs that have built her legend.

6.9

Velvet Goldmine

Aug 28, 1998

Almost a decade since larger-than-life glam-rock enigma Brian Slade disappeared from public eye, an investigative journalist is on assignment to uncover the truth behind his former idol.

7.7

Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down

Nov 9, 2019

This anthology film, whose Chinese title begins with a romantic name for human excrement, premiered internationally at Rotterdam and won Best Screenplay from the Hong Kong Film Critics Society. A variety of Hong Kong people wrestle with nostalgia when facing an uncertain future. Their stories give way to a documentary featuring a young barista turned political candidate.

5.8

Appointment in Tokyo

Dec 7, 1945

Produced by the Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps, with the cooperation of the Army Air Forces and the United States Navy, and released by Warner Bros. for the War Activities Committee shortly after the surrender of Japan. Follow General Douglas MacArthur and his men from their exile from the Philippines in early 1942, through the signing of the instrument of surrender on the USS Missouri on September 1, 1945. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

0.0

The Psychedelic Experience

Jan 23, 1965

Experimental movie, where a man comes home and experiences LSD. His kaleidoscopic visions follow, with readings inspired by the Tibethan Book of the Dead.

No Image Available

0.0

De caballos y guitarras

Mar 1, 2024

A musical, and also a reflection on watching, on trying to escape an anthropocentric gaze and also on watching itself in cinema. Featuring mares and horses: Triana, Víctor K, Bambi Sailor, San Special Solano, Buck Red Skin, Onkaia, Cool Boy, the donkey Agostino, the mule Guapa. And also Alfredo Lagos, Raül Refree, María Marín, Pepe Habichuela, Virgina García del Pino, María García Ruiz, Pilar Monsell, María Pérez Sanz.

0.0

Alexander Scriabin – Towards the Light / Calculation and Ecstasy

Aug 15, 1996

Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915) born in Moscow, was an innovative, mystical, avant-garde Russian pianist and composer. This film explores Scriabin’s profound vision of art's unity — where music, movement, light and colour merge to create transcendent experiences. Some claim Scriabin pioneered atonality before Schoenberg. Key works: Poème, Op. 32 No. 1 (1903) and Vers la flamme, Op. 72 (1914). Featuring commentary from esteemed musicians like Eduard Artemyev, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Vladimir Horowitz, Artist: Hermann Nitsch, conductor Mikhail Pletnev and insights from Scriabin’s daughter: Marina Scriabine, this documentary offers a unique glimpse into the life and works of one of music’s most enigmatic figures. Shot across stunning locales in Switzerland, Italy and Russia, enriched with Scriabin’s own writings and rare archival materials. The highlight includes a historic recording of Scriabin himself, playing his Poem Op. 32 No. 1 on a Welte Mignon player-piano, recorded in 1908.

6.6

Salman Rushdie: Death on a Trail

Jan 8, 2019

An intimate portrait, in his own words, of the Indian writer Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses (1988), thirty years after the fatwa uttered by the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini: his youth in multicultural Bombay, his life in England, his many years of forced hiding, his thoughts on President Trump's United States of America.

0.0

When the Masks are Taken Off

Jul 28, 1975

A satirical anthology film transforms popular humorous and sarcastic stage songs into standalone vignettes that lampoon the absurdities of bureaucratic officials and the liberal attitudes that were systematically targeted and suppressed in that era.

No Image Available

0.0

The Zeppelin Raids on London and the Siege of Verdun

Sep 30, 1916

This lost WWI documentary appears to be about the German zeppelin attacks on Londonon September 2nd, 1916.

3.0

Heaven Tonight

Nov 12, 1990

The film covers the conflict between a father and his son both being musicians. The father is the leader of a band making rock-music from the 60s but his son becomes a star of techno-pop music.

0.0

Boney M. - Diamonds

Mar 27, 2015

No overview available.

5.2

Stripper

Oct 21, 1985

A strippers' convention and a major contest. The movie focuses on a few strippers, each with her own strong motive to win.

8.0

Maidan

Jul 24, 2014

A chronicle of the civil uprising against the regime of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych that took place in Kyiv in the winter of 2013/14. The film follows the progress of the revolution: from peaceful rallies, half a million strong in the Maidan square, to the bloody street battles between protesters and riot police.