Review: No Distance Left to Run

Last year there was a spate of documentaries about Heavy Metal groups we saw Anvil: The Story of Anvil about the heavy metal group that never quite made it as big as their contemporaries while Iron Maiden: Flight 666 was basically a tour video diary filled with live performances and not much depth while the latter was purely for the fans the former could've been enjoyed by anyone. This year it seems we may be relviing the glory years of Indie and Brit Pop, which is odd for me because a look back to the music of my youth makes me feel quite old. The first of these films is No Distance Left to Run looking at Blur, a group who I grew up following and even have a few of their albums on casette tapes. The dual narrative looks at how the four members of the group met while joining the band as they reunite for a seires of small gigs before conquering the main stage at 2009's Glastonbury Festival. As someone who thought he knew quite a lot about the band I was surprised at some of the stories from the bands over-reliance on alchol and drugs to how far they drifted apart in the latter years of their original run.

It was also nice to hear some interviews from them because, while Damon Albarn as always been the band's mouthpiece and Alex James has become pretty ubiquituos in recent years, Graham Coxon doesn't really give a lot of full and frank interviews and I think I've never heard drummer Dave Rowntree speak. I got a whole retrospective of the band and especially learnt a lot about the relationship between Albarn and Coxon whose rumored feud saw Coxon leave the band before Blur recorded their final original album, Think Tank. I think the film is cleverly made and appeals to both casual music fans and die-hard Blur fanatics offering something for both and not overloading on live performances while at the same time giving us the tracks that made Blur stars from 'There's No Other Way' to 'Tender'. A very gentle well-made rockumentary which will leave you feeling happy and warm inside.