"Nirvanna: The Band - the Show - the Movie" Absurdly Fantastic

     Well that was a movie for the ages. I can't even remember when I first started hearing about this little indie Canadian film. It had to be close to a year ago now, on Twitter when someone posted a clip of one of the numerous, hilarious yet stupid flashbacks in this movie. Obviously I didn't make make much of it at the time, how could I. I didn't know what they were flashing back to, that it was supposed to be completely misremembered, or what the name of it even was. But slowly and surely, this movie just burrowed it's way into my consciousness, almost forcing itself onto me in a way (not that way), which is funny because that's exactly what I found so great about this movie. 

    First it was random billboards around the city, since I obviously live in Toronto. Of course my first thought was Nirvana, you know the famous band? I didn't even realize Nirvanna had two n's in the title until I watched it yesterday. Then finally I searched it up, and was just confused at why someone would turn a web series into a movie, I was skeptical. Except I couldn't escape it, as the movie's theatrical release happened, my twitter feed was just filled with people talking about this film, about how it's some love letter to Toronto, about how it's about the power of friendship, about the triumph of it being such a low-budget indie film. Eventually I made up my mind, I had to see it. So on the last week of theatrical releases my friend and I went to go watch this film late at night, close to where much of the film is shot. Let's talk about it.

    I have no other words to describe this film other than absurd. It's hard to exactly quantify what I love so much about this film, but what I can definitely say is that you will enjoy/appreciate it more the more you learn about it. The fact that this film was shot almost entirely in public, and they actually managed to make a whole story about it is hilarious. What do you mean one of the first opening scenes is them talking to a real Canadian Tire employee about cutting wires so they can skydive off of the CN Tower? What do you mean they actually parachuted onto a live streetcar, and no one did anything about it? What do you mean they used real footage of them around Drake's mansion when shots were fired there during the Kendrick-Drake beef? All of this just adds to the absurdity of the whole film, and eventually you can't do anything else but let it charm you into submission.

    I mean that's the appeal of it. It's so stupid, it's so absurd, that eventually you just give up and hey maybe you start believing too that time travel is real. I mean it starts off with a plan to skydive into a live baseball game to announce a show they don't even have. As a viewer who came in knowing nothing it takes a bit for the humour of this show to warm up to you. A lot of it is dry and so I wasn't able to suspend my disbelief immediately. Eventually though, it just hammers you with so much absurdity that you're just stuck there suspending everything to see what happens next. These two dudes really are just roaming the streets of Toronto doing dumb gags like trying to walk through a metal detector, and convincing security guards you need to bring pliers up with you to "cut your pants."

    Then the movie knows just the right beats to hit. It doesn't drag on particularly long, clocking in at an hour and forty minutes, but the movie has a mean sucker punch. You'll just be watching what feels like a really bad Back to the Future spoof,  and then get slugged by them trying to prove time travel works by trying to go back to 9/11. Or you'll be watching Jay start to feel the loneliness of his new lifestyle kick in, the shitty grey flashbacks they use, Matt shooting Jay with a nerf gun, only for him to actually shoot someone in the head and start off some stupid chase scene where he's fleeing from the police.

    And the best part is? They hardly even play any actual music. I was expecting some actual commentary about the music scene. Or for it to end with them actually playing at the Rivioli, or to see them actually being a band. But that's the whole gag, they never even play any actual songs. I only remember Holiday by Turnstile, and a Black Eyed Pea's song. This is a movie about a band that's not really about the music or the band, but more just about the people in the band. Because that's the message of the movie. It's a pretty simple one about friendship. It's not messy, it's not clean, but ultimately it's about people who eventually come back around even after it gets rough and dirty to look out for each other.

Final Score: 90/100

    I know this review technically contains a bunch of spoilers, but I think this film is best enjoyed without knowing anything about it beforehand. Maybe for those who watched the original webseries they'll like it even more than I did, but it is hard to beat this film. I mean I liked it right after I finished it, but with some time to marinate about my thoughts that was a fantastic film. Even if you ignore the small budget it's a marvel this film was actually approved and greenlit to be shown in real theaters for more than just a day. It's hilarious, and so stupid it works. If I were to recommend this to someone, I would just put it on, no other pieces of context other than the fact that most of the scenes actually do just take place in public in Toronto.