We Are X

A naïve viewer could be forgiven for wondering if this rock documentary is not, in fact, a mockumentary. While not overtly funny, the film's high dramas surrounding the aging Japanese heavy metal rock/progressive band X Japan are so operatic as to border on satire. But X Japan is very much for real, as is the group's long trail of personal disaster over a 40-year history. We Are X isn't a concert movie, per se, but it does focus on events surrounding a string of recent shows (some in the U.S.), featuring interviews with founding members that are often confessional. If there is a star here, it's the group's drummer, Yoshiki, whose relentless speed-pounding on his kit over decades now requires constant shots of cortisone for pain and—no exaggeration—oxygen tanks on stage to revive him when he passes out from exertion. While Yoshiki talks about X Japan's history and the evolution of his musicianship and songwriting style, it is his backstory as an asthmatic kid who overcame childhood tragedy (his father died when Yoshiki was a young boy) through music that is most compelling. So, too, is his lifelong musical partnership with X Japan vocalist Toshi, a slightly weird figure who left the band for a decade, a period in which he describes himself as “brainwashed.” Other X Japan members who have come and gone and/or died are eulogized here, adding to an overhanging sense of doom. But what's also clear is the passion felt by fans—old and new—and even if there isn't a complete song performed here, it's easy to see why X Japan still excites the crowds. Recommended. (T. Keogh)