Ben Oliver

Now
Banner image for This is Spinal Tap
film

This is Spinal Tap

It’s like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black.
22 July 2019

Still relevant, which is to say that Hollywood documentaries about music have barely changed over the years.

Spinal Tap works because it doesn’t just spoof a documentary, it essentially is a documentary. Over 100 hours of footage were shot. Every line in improvised. Mostly first takes got used. They even hired Peter Smokler, a seasoned documentary film maker to shoot the whole thing.

The format freezes the film in time. How can something be dated when its sole purpose it to capture a moment?

They went deep, and they surfaced with timeless comedy gold.