Josh Homme, guitarist and leader of the rock group Queens of the Stone Age, got a call from rock legend Iggy Pop in 2016 about possibly collaborating on a recording and tour. The resulting meeting of the minds, and the music their partnership yielded, is the subject of American Valhalla, co-directed by Homme with Andreas Neumann. With (strangely enough) top chef Anthony Bourdain serving as an interviewer, the completed film feels like an extended article in Rolling Stone, which is not a bad thing since it probes the thought process that led to Pop’s outreach to Homme, and the latter’s understandable anxiety about working with a hero. There are extensive scenes of the two reflecting together on what went through their minds in the early days, including Homme’s long-delayed response to Pop’s journal-like letter that he sent the younger artist as a way of opening up. More interesting are the concrete steps the two took to write and record new songs at a rustic studio sitting by itself in the California desert, near Joshua Tree. Footage from a European tour rounds things out, but it’s the pairing of these two interesting men--Pop the eternal primitive, Homme reminiscent of Beat Generation icon Neal Cassady--that is most captivating. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (T. Keogh)
American Valhalla
(2017) 81 min. DVD: $15.98. Eagle Rock Entertainment (avail. from most distributors). Volume 33, Issue 3
American Valhalla
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