A Mighty Wind

A Mighty Wind is a 2003 mockumentary/musical directed by Christopher Guest that depicts several folk singer acts that are assembled to come together to form a potential tribute concert in memory of deceased folk music producer Irving Steinbloom by his surviving children. The acts, "Mitch and Mickey", "The New Main Street Singers", and "The Folksmen" are the said acts that the film follows in a fictional comedy documentary style. The film follows these various acts as they attempt to reunite and join forces once again to produce a legendary folk performance, showing their triumphs, quarrels, and general shenanigans in the process.

The film generally adheres to the basic paramounts of documentary filmmaking, involving set camera interviews, and steadicam followings of the activities of the musicians, organizers, producers who are involved fictionally. However, the main strategical and artistic methods that this film employs are the use of Christopher Guest as a director/actor, along with using his usual acting/comedy troupe of Harry Shearer, Michael McKean, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, etc. After working on numerous previous films in a comedy format together, it is revealed that most of these actors have a genuine musical talent. The actors actually played and recorded their own soundtrack for the movie. Thus, this displays the raw creative talent and ability to blend talent with instruments both on screen and in a recorded format. There is no form of music in the film other than what the actors recorded to be played in specific scenes. The soundtrack is equal to the film itself in almost every regard.

Christopher Guest's unique vision of blending dry comedy from previous films with his experience in Spinal Tap with a troupe of actors so willing to express their passion and craft allows for quite a for de force in artistry. The audience who is new to the methodologies of this camp may seem off put by the subtle nuances regarding periods of dry comedy, stuck camera shots and folk music in general, but cannot deny the fact that everything Christopher Guest set out to do with the people involved was accomplished. Perhaps in what was the ultimate conveying moment of the film was when the final concert came together, displaying all of the actors as folk singers actually playing the songs developed for the movie LIVE in front of an audience. The intertwining of musical mastery and comedy from people who have been recognized by Hollywood as hilarious for decades allows for a film to be shown as something more than art, but rather a work of love on the part of everyone involved. The depth of the characters from the acting troupe and the directorial vision of blending a mockumentary, a musical, and a comedy together with such concise mastery allows for a unique film that bends one film into three different genres that stand alone in their own right.