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The Reflektor Tapes

THE REFLEKTOR TAPES Rating: NN


The Reflektor Tapes is less a documentary about the making of Arcade Fire’s 2013 album than a feature-length collage that does neither the band nor its fans any service.

In his feature-length debut, video maker Kahlil Joseph shuffles aimlessly through footage of recording sessions in Jamaica and performances in London, Montreal and Haiti. 

It’s lovely footage, shot in various formats and intensities, and bandmates Win Butler and Régine Chassagne occasionally appear to discuss their process and ambitions in interview segments. But unlike Arcade Fire’s music, which builds to ecstatic crescendos, The Reflektor Tapes just cycles from one song fragment to another, failing to find a rhythm that coheres or even clarifies what we’re seeing or hearing. 

An impressionistic, experimental documentary would be one thing, but this feels like Joseph just handed in whatever rough cut was on his laptop when he found himself up against a deadline. 75 minutes.

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