This Is Spinal Tap 4K 1984

Unlike many other musical genres, rock has long since become a cult in its own right, with its own clear hierarchy, hit songs, psalms, hymns, and “holy martyrs”—cadavers. From the mid-1950s, when the foundations of the genre were just emerging, in Chuck Berry's “duck walks” and the provocative swings of the king Elvis, it was already clear that rock was not just music, but a certain anti-social protest. After reaching its peak in the late 1960s, rock slowly but surely turned into just another part of narrow-minded show business, where the music itself didn't matter anymore, and sales and the famous stage show were the main thing.

This tongue-in-cheek mockumentary by Rob Reiner, making his big-screen debut, is a brilliant attempt to ridicule the pretentiousness of rock stardom and, at the same time, a diagnosis of the genre itself, which was degenerating at an incredible rate. The band featured in the film is a composite of all the most famous bands, from the Rolling Stones to Van Halen.

The plot is presented in the style of a documentary film about the American tour of a certain English heavy metal band called Spinal Tap. In reality, however, the viewer witnesses the anecdotal story of the band's decline. The tour is canceled, the record label scraps the original cover of the new album (for sexism), and the band members themselves get caught up in a series of events that make it difficult to call them anything other than idiots.

The abundance of nuanced humorous moments makes the film a must-see for anyone interested in music. The brilliantly portrayed era of the 80s, a decade when kitsch became a trend, perfectly reflects the essence of the director's mockery. The film completely discredits the rock ‘n’ roll genre, and rightly so, considering what it has become over the last 30 years. Moreover, the film predicted that it would be complete absurdity: men on stage would look like women, with curly perms, heavy makeup, tight leggings, and leopard-print leotards. And the joke about the fact that 37 members had passed through the group in 15 years turned out to be largely prophetic!