''Gimme Danger'' is a 2016 American
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
directed by
Jim Jarmusch about the band
the Stooges
The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Da ...
. It was shown in the Midnight Screenings section at the
2016 Cannes Film Festival.
The film was released by
Amazon Studios
Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...
and
Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures is an American film distributor. It is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment.
Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films. Ma ...
on October 28, 2016.
Overview
The film follows the rise, fall and reunion of
the Stooges
The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Da ...
, formed in
Ann Arbor, Michigan in the 1967 by singer
Iggy Pop, bassist
Dave Alexander, and brothers
Ron Asheton
Ronald Franklin Asheton (July 17, 1948 – c. January 6, 2009) was an American musician , who was best known as the guitarist, bassist, and co-songwriter for the rock band the Stooges. He formed the Stooges along with Iggy Pop and his brother, ...
and
Scott Asheton
Scott Randolph Asheton (August 16, 1949 – March 15, 2014) was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band the Stooges.
Asheton was born in Washington, D.C. and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan with his family at the age of ...
on guitar and drums respectively. Guitarist
James Williamson eventually joined the band, with Ron Asheton switching to bass after Alexander was fired.
The band found little success during the first phase of their career, recording three albums that did not sell as well as their record companies expected, and performing for audiences that were largely indifferent or hostile. They broke up in 1974, and the band members went their separate ways with vocalist Pop establishing a moderately successful solo career. In time, the Stooges proved highly influential on the development of
punk rock in the 1970s.
The Stooges' original lineup reformed in 2003, with bassist
Mike Watt replacing the late Alexander. Ron Asheton died in 2009, and Williamson rejoined the band for their fifth and final album.
Development and production
Jarmusch began working on the documentary almost a decade prior to the film's release. The project began after Osterberg expressed that if a film were to be made about The Stooges, he would prefer Jarmusch to make it.
''Gimme Danger'' mixes archival photos and footage and
cutout style animation alongside reunion-era interviews with the surviving band members and footage of their 2010 induction into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The documentary is titled after a song on the 1973 ''
Raw Power
''Raw Power'' is the third studio album by American rock band the Stooges (credited as Iggy and the Stooges), released on February 7, 1973 by Columbia Records. The album departed from the "groove-ridden, feel-based songs" of the band's first two ...
'' album.
Release
In April 2016,
Amazon Studios
Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...
acquired distribution rights to the film. with
Magnolia Pictures
Magnolia Pictures is an American film distributor. It is a subsidiary of Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment.
Magnolia was formed in 2001 by Bill Banowsky and Eamonn Bowles, and specializes in both foreign and independent films. Ma ...
co-distributing the film. The film had its world premiere at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
on May 19, 2016.
It also screened at the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
on September 8, 2016. and the
New York Film Festival
The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, i ...
on October 5, 2016. The film was released on October 28, 2016.
Critical reception
''Gimme Danger'' received positive reviews from film critics. It holds a "certified fresh" approval rating of 95% on review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, based on 100 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film holds a rating of 72 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gimme Danger
2016 films
2016 documentary films
American documentary films
Films directed by Jim Jarmusch
Documentary films about punk music and musicians
The Stooges
Amazon Studios films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films