A middling entry in the growing genre of tragic, never-quite-made-it rocker docs, this doesn't have a bona fide genius at its core (The Devil and Daniel Johnston), nor a compelling clash of Spinal Tap--ready egos (Anvil! The Story of Anvil). Instead, we have some grainy footage of bell-bottomed, early-'70s doom combo Pentagram---who?---and one rabid fan in Sean "Pellet" Pelletier, a reasonably sensible guy who nonetheless tries to mount a revival. This involves him reaching out to lead singer Bobby Liebling, a graying wastoid who lives with his aged parents and smokes much crack (onscreen).
The intervention is heartwarming despite its predictability: Does Liebling suffer a relapse after his girlfriend bails? Will he show up for the big comeback gig at Webster Hall or pass out backstage? Director Don Argott has a nose for complex subjects that he sometimes reduces to simplicity (The Art of the Steal). Here, working with longtime editor Demian Fenton (who earns a codirecting credit), he's got the opposite problem: Liebling is a rail-thin death angel whose biography is a little threadbare for a feature-length profile. The filmmakers mine as much as they can from supportive parents and ex-bandmates, but notably, you won't leave humming a single riff.
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