Leave The World Behind, 2014.
Directed by Christian Larson.
Starring Axel Hedfors, Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello.
SYNOPSIS:
A documentary from Christian Larson following Swedish House Mafia on ‘One Last Tour’ before the band split up as they had previously announced.
Like John Travolta, I got chills and they’re multiplying. It was not the sight of Olivia Newton-John in shiny black spandex that made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, but the concert footage from ‘One Last Tour’ from Swedish House Mafia, of which this is a documentary feature, directed by Christian Larson, teaming up with the band again after their collaboration on Take One, another documentary about the band, released in 2010, and a handful of their music videos.
This film picks up the story of Axel Hedfors, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso, the creative powerhouses behind the band, as they undertake a fifty-date tour around the globe, after announcing pre-tour, that this set of shows would be their last.
Emphasising the theory that the candle that burns twice as bright only lasts half as long, SHM (Swedish House Mafia) had enjoyed a relatively short musical career in this current guise and the film effectively documents the slow-death of a musical project that is beginning to lose its creative enthusiasm.
Away from the testicle-tingling concert footage (and it really is impressive), Larson chooses his content carefully and it is clear from some of the films’ more intimate sequences that he is keen to let the band members come across with all of their warts showing. Like all the best documentary film-makers, he is content to remain silent, letting the chips fall where they may.
If you’re a fan of the band (I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself one, but do enjoy some of their music) then you will no doubt have your own theory about the reasons for their demise after such a short time and at what was seemingly the zenith of their popularity. Larson’s documentary never really addresses these reasons and the members of the band are not keen on expanding on something that is clearly uncomfortable dinner table conversation, far less the focus of a documentary that will be viewed by millions. If they can’t talk to each other about it, well, what chance for the rest of us getting a satisfactory answer?
So if you have come for the answers to why, then you’re going to leave disappointed. Never really a film that intended to provide the answers anyway, Larson chooses to concentrate on the individuals home and family lives as much as their celebrity status, successfully painting pictures of warmth, realism and good old-fashioned, down-to-earth domesticity.
Each of these characters has his own time in front of the cameras, a glaring spotlight on their motivations and musings, but as I mentioned, there is little meat to be gained for any troubled and grieving fanatic of a band that really shouldn’t have folded at all. As is highlighted in the documentary, if only they had talked to one another about it, admitting the idea of splitting up was possibly a hasty and foolish one, then all of this could have been avoided. Still, by the end of ‘The Last Tour’, you even start to think as a viewer that maybe it was a good idea after all. I mean, they had a great run and now they’re not really friends anymore anyway, right?
Manager Amy Thompson could only really say; “It’s the psychology of three friends figuring out a difficult situation — put in a piece of film — based around the sadness of the breakdown and the elation of the tour,” which appears to sum it up quite nicely.
As a documentary feature this is outstanding. The choice of shots Larson picks both on and off stage are original and contemporary for a rock-doc of this type and he captures the mood of the band as a unit and the individual cogs with aplomb. The musical sections, a major selling point for those that may be viewing it for the bells and whistles rather than the fusty chit-chat, is as mentioned above, regularly jaw-dropping, faithfully capturing the live shows experienced by a million very happy, excited people.
Highly recommended for those that like the music and also those that like a well constructed, honest documentary about real and sometimes fallible people that allow the film-maker to practice his craft with impunity nonetheless. In English and Swedish, so bring your specs for the subtitles if you’re fluent in both.
Flickering Myth Rating: Film ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★ ★
Steve Leadbetter
Originally published April 21, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
