Title: Who Took The Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour
Director: Kerthy Fix
Subject: Le Tigre
Most music documentaries use that style and genre very loosely, not actually providing any insight to the band itself or on the process of making music, or actually providing a contextual narrative that would give the non-fan that sort of insight. Usually just producing a 90-minute montage of performances or just filming a concert and bam, there’s your “documentary”. But there’s something different about “Who Took The Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour” It provides the aforementioned traits but it also delivers a pretty engaging story of a band coming to terms with their popularity and a well crafted peek into the day-in and day-out grind of a band on tour.
The documentary follows Le Tigre, the electro pop-punk outfit that promotes feminism and lifestyle in rock n’ roll. Many of the candid moments in the film express that struggle exactly. From radio interviews to magazine write-ups that emphasize this ideal and taken aback to coping the same answer over and over in a struggle to taken seriously and not just a bunch of cute girls on stage playing pop music. In that endeavor, I found this documentary to be very refreshing and delightful. Namely, seeing Le Tigre interact with other band while on tour and playing big outdoor festivals.
An incident with the hardcore spectacle band, Slipknot, I found to be most ironic. The members of Le Tigre are waiting to perform and talk about trying to get a picture with Slipknot. Slipknot for all their hardedge music also look the part, by dawning haunting and creepy masks as they perform or even walk around in public. Think of KISS, if they were from Hell and on the way to Earth they stopped off at Hot Topic. Obviously, Le Tigre’s tone towards Slipknot is mocking, based solely on their image. The irony comes from the scene before it by Le Tigre ridiculing a radio DJ for doing the same thing to them. All in all, I think everyone intentions were pure and were in the sake of good-hearted fun but there doesn’t seem to be a disconnect between the two.
Overall, “Who Took The Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour” does something very effective, it gives its viewers a glimpse of a life on the road for a band; it also gives valuable insight to a band to their many fans. In this way, it gives a general audience and hardcore fans something to hold on to, a true rarity in modern day band documentaries. There’s a moment at the beginning of the documentary showing the band setting a bottle rocket on the roadside of an open field, they light the fuse and it skyrockets in a quick and dazzling fashion, this provides a good metaphor of this journey. Quick to realize, it crashes back to Earth. At the end of the film, a final farewell gives the band and their fans a tearful goodbye as Le Tigre plays their last show in New York City. These are good bookends to an insight film.
Overall: B-
by Rudie Obias
