Mistaken for Strangers Review

Posted by Alexander Misiti

I first heard about The National while listening to The Bret Easton Ellis podcast. For those of you who don’t know who he is, Bret Easton Ellis is an award-winning author who is most famous for his book American Psycho.

He also happens to be my favorite author, so I value his opinion on most things.

On the episode I was listening too, he was interviewing Matt Berninger, lead singer for The National. I had never heard of the band, but BEE was praising the music, so I had to check it out.

I instantly fell in love with their song “Fireproof” from their latest album, Trouble Will Find Me (2013). I listened to more and more of their songs and soon fell in love with their sound. “I Should Live in Salt”, “I Need My Girl”, and “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks” are personal favorites.

But I’m going off topic. This is a movie blog, not a music blog.

On that same podcast, Matt talks about a movie his brother made while on tour with them. It’s a rock-doc call Mistaken for Strangers (2013) and is about the relationship between Matt, his brother Tom, and the band. I wanted to know more about the band, so I soon sought it out.

Mistaken for Strangers isn’t the typical rockumentary. It’s not filled with tons of concert footage or scenes of the band working on songs. It’s about the relationships in and amongst the band and I found it incredibly fascinating.

Shot on a consumer grade Vixia, Tom Berninger filmed his brother over the course of 6 months during their High Violet (2010) tour. The brothers have a series of ups and downs over the course of the tour and their relationship always seems to be pushed to the edge. The big issue between them is that Matt is a rock star and Tom isn’t. This creates huge tension and throughout the film we see how they deal with this.

Even though the documentary doesn’t look great visually, nor focuses on the music, it’s incredibly well done on an emotional level. We feel for Tom as he stands in the audience while his brother sings on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans. We sympathize with the situation; yet realize that the best things in life don’t come for free. You have to work for things and can’t blame failure on those around you. After finishing the film, it definitely got me thinking about my own future and the success I strive for.

I highly recommend Mistaken for Strangers for fans of The National, good music, and engaging documentaries. Currently, the film is playing in very select theaters and can be purchased on iTunes.

Final Grade: A