Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister, love him or hate him you cannot deny that he is one of the greatest rock'n'roll icons of all time. With rock biopics being turned out left right and centre in recent years, Iron Maiden's 'Flight 666', Saxon's 'Heavy Metal Thunder' and Anvil's 'The Story Of Anvil' to name but a few, the arrival of a documentary or should that be 'ROCKumentary' profiling Lemmy comes as little suprise.
The documentary was filmed over the course of three years by Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski and follows Lemmy from his personal life to the live concerts to his Hollywood home to the recording studio. The filmakers have managed to avoid a tedious 120 minutes of endless celebrity endoresements of Lemmy and have instead opted to take the viewer deep into Lemmy's world like never before. 'Lemmy' details the legend's interests in military memorabilia, video games, slot machines, the love of his son, as well as profiling his days with psychedelic space-rockers Hawkwind.
With no real storyline, 'Lemmy' is a straight-forward, detailed documentary. Comments about the bassist's debauched lifestyle are throw in from the likes of Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Dee Snider, Dave Grohl, Scott Ian, Slash and suprisingly Jarvis Cocker, who describes Motorhead as the aural equivalent of a sandstorm, while Lemmy, camera crew in tow, goes about his day. A day that mostly consists of swigging Jack Daniels at LA's Rainbow Bar & Grill whilst being clutched by buxon fans!
You can be sure to find Lemmy at the Rainbow when he isnt playing with his bands Motorhead and The Head Cat. Meeting fans and playing the slot machine whilst perched at his regular spot at the end of the bar. The film also details Lemmy's second residency...his Hollywood home. Like a museum exhibiting his life, it is crammed full of facinating memorabilia. Lemmy describes breifly where a few items came from as he and the camera crew squeeze past stacked shelves, pictures, gold discs, awards, books, flags, collectively known as what Lemmy calls stuff.
In my opinion, where this film really succeeds is the way it captures Lemmy at both his most high and mighty, rocking out with Motorhead in front of thousands of worshipping fans, as well as filming some of his most personal moments where he comes across as being a sensitive, down-to-earth, slightly damaged old fella who loves his son and his rock 'n' roll.
Lets face it, dissecting Lemmy was never going to be a pretty affair and after a long wait and through the sweat and grimacing of directors Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski, a facinating documentary has been unveiled. Aimed mainly at fans of rock music and fans of Lemmy himself, the film still gives something for everyone to enjoy.
'Lemmy: The Movie' was released on DVD on Monday 24th January 2011.
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