I AM TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEART (Sam Jones, 2002) R

Reviewed: August 20, 2002

Sam Jones's I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is a lovely documentary about the band Wilco. If you're not familiar with either Wilco or their newest album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (which many publications hailed upon its April release as the immediate front-runner for best album of the year), go buy it. Then come back and read this review (though at that point you'll be so madly in love with the album, you'll be aching to see the movie independent of what any critic says). For those of you who don't know of Wilco and have no desire to shell out $15+ on a whim, fear not. Neither I Am Trying To Break Your Heart (nor, hopefully, this review) requires previous knowledge of Wilco to be appreciated and enjoyed. And finally, to those of you who don't like Wilco: You are dumb. Go away.

Shot on 16mm black and white, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart's extemporaneous images are generally well-lit and nicely composed, though that's not surprising considering director Sam Jones comes from an award-winning background in still photography (and he acted as one of his own cameramen). Despite Heart's promotional billing as primarily being about the conflict that ensued between Wilco and Warner/Reprise Records over Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, this movie's really about the joy of creation.

Nowhere is this theme more apparent than the opening twenty minutes detailing Wilco and its members in their sonic headquarters (they call it the Wilco Loft), a gigantic Chicago space (free of corporate interference) where every crevice is strewn with musical gadgets. Fueled by stale cigarettes and large Dunkin' Donuts coffees, we see them experimenting, playing, toying, screwing around, debating, testing and just generally doing whatever it fucking takes to craft great tunes. The sense of manic energy is palpable (during one 3AM session a band member exclaims they're either on the verge of losing their minds or they're on the edge of genius and you actually believe him). I have oft longed to see this kind of process captured on non-fictional celluloid, as I'm pretty much musically illiterate and have always wondered just how musicians, well, create music. Obviously it's an individualized experience, but just to get a look inside one great band's methodology is heavenly.

And there's no disputing I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is a frank peak; any documentary with a scene where a cameraman follows his subject (in this case Wilco's lead singer/songwriter Jeff Tweedy) into a bathroom to catch them vomiting is undeniably scrupulous. Likewise the record label controversy is presented in a seemingly honest, straightforward manner-- particularly enlightening are scintillating quotes from Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke and the extremely ironic ending.

Minor quibbles: I Am Trying To Break Your Heart's editing is sometimes a bit too disjointed and could benefit from tightening (meaning I could have done without as many straightforward rehearsal/concert performances-- I'm extremely thankful Heart's a documentary, not a rockumentary, but those entries compromised this delineation). Plus there are some pretentious shots of the band walking on a shore in slow motion, the heightened frame rate exaggerating their spacey cluelessness. It's a stupid sequence and repeated more than once.

Regardless of these small blemishes, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is a rare opportunity to go behind the scenes of true, fascinating, artistic cohesion. As someone remarks in the film, Wilco's story (and thus this documentary's story) is not about groupies or drugs or burn out. It's just about the damn music.

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