Watch any heavy metal documentary and you are bound to at some point see Lemmy Kilmister. Kilmister, more universally referred to as just ‘Lemmy’, is about as rock and roll as you can get. He spent his time being a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and ever since has spent decades touring with his own band, Motorhead. Long hair, leather, denim, mutton-chop mustachioed, macho, grizzled, one look at Lemmy and there is no mistaking it, he oozes attitude and rock and roll. The movie “Lemmy” is a documentary about this man.
Greg Olliver and producer Wes Orshoski both intentionally and by luck manage to avoid all of the typical ploys and drama typically associated with a live-as-I-may artist documentary. This movie comes across as effortless. There are no special effects, no difficult questions, no investigative reporting and no conflict whatsoever. Don’t let this stem you from seeing the film though, the movie thrives because of its austerity. It turns out that following Kilmister around makes for a heck of a film. Kilmister is aesthetic and colorful enough on his own to make this rather lengthy 2 hour and 40 minute film seem half that time. While having bad-assed and brash appearance, Kilmister it turns out is thoughtful, introspective, well-spoken and courteous. He's actually a pretty decent guy, even if he doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks of him.
I loved the scenes of Kilmister in his tiny Hollywood rent-controlled apartment and those scenes alone could make a documentary of another kind. The apartment has a fascinating museum / hoarder quality to it that really shows off a little known side of Kilmister’s personality. I could happily lose myself for days going through his diverse collections of historical artifacts.
Not to beat the topic of Lemmy's pad, but have you ever seen the fabulous art collector / horder documentary “Herb and Dorothy” ? I hope you have. Herb and Dorothy isn't just a good film but coincidentally is a crystal ball into the fate of Lemmy’s apartment someday (at least I hope so)
Digressing a bit here about the austerity of this film. For those of you who need some kind of rocker documentary familiarity, yes there are the obligatory interviews. Olliver and Orshoski do line up some familiar faces to praise Lemmy Kilmister. Members of Metallica, Foo Fighters, Twisted sister, etc. etc. all get a turn to say how the music world would be nothing without Kilmister, blah, blah, blah .... Somehow, in a nice way, I think Kilmister would say he could give a shit about all that.
This is a much better than average Rockumentary. Check it out.
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