''I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco'' is a 2002

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

by director/photographer Sam Jones, following the American

alt-country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style f ...

rock band

Wilco Wilco is an American alternative rock band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo following singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently dur ...

through the creation and distribution of their fourth studio album ''

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Wilco, first released on September 18, 2001. Recording sessions for the album began in late 2000. These sessions, which were documented for the film '' I Am Trying to Break ...

.'' The film, distributed to theaters in the United States through

Cowboy Pictures Noah Cowan (born ) was the executive director of SFFILM from March 2014 to May 2019. He oversaw the organization's exhibition, education and filmmaker services. Before joining SFFILM, Cowan was the artistic director of TIFF Bell Lightbox. Early ...

, was released on July 26, 2002, three months after the album's retail release.

Overview

With Wilco nearing completion of their album ''Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'', conflict arose between the band and its record label

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any repea ...

, a division of the

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

. Wilco's prior albums had not performed to Reprise's sales expectations and Reprise were concerned with how to market the new album. They consequently rejected the work and dropped Wilco from the label. With a completed album and no contractual obligations to Reprise, Wilco made the album available to download on their website. Awareness of the new album became apparent and Wilco's profile was rising. In response, another record label,

Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly called Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Non ...

, offered Wilco a new record contract. Nonesuch Records, like Reprise, is a division of Warner Music Group, so Wilco were essentially paid twice for the album by the same record company. Other scenes depicted the breakdown of the relationship between members

Jeff Tweedy Jeffrey Scot Tweedy (born August 25, 1967) is an American musician, songwriter, author, and record producer best known as the singer and guitarist of the band Wilco. Tweedy, originally from Belleville, Illinois, started his music career in high s ...

and

Jay Bennett Jay Walter Bennett (November 15, 1963 – May 24, 2009) was an American multi-instrumentalist, engineer, producer, and singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the band Wilco from 1994 to 2001. Biography Early life and work with Wilco Jay ...

, and Tweedy's debilitating

migraine Migraine (, ) is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent headaches. Typically, the associated headache affects one side of the head, is pulsating in nature, may be moderate to severe in intensity, and could last from a few hou ...

Cast

John Stirratt John Chadwick Stirratt is an American bassist and multi-instrumentalist for Wilco and The Autumn Defense. Early career Stirratt grew up in Mandeville, Louisiana. He attended Mandeville High School and the University of Mississippi, and is a ...

Leroy Bach LeRoy Fredrick Bach is an American musician, composer, and music producer. He has hosted musical gatherings, fostered musical collaborations, and led bands in Chicago since 1990. Bach is perhaps best known for his work as a multi-instrumentalist in ...

Glenn Kotche Glenn Kotche (born December 31, 1970 in Roselle, Illinois, United States) is an American drummer and composer, best known for his involvement in the band Wilco. He was named the 40th greatest drummer of all time by Gigwise in 2008. Prior to w ...

* Tony Margherita

Release

In addition to regular theatrical releases throughout the United States, the film was an official selection of the

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

, where the film had its world premiere in June 2002.

Reception

Critical response

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 ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 60 reviews, and an average rating of 6.92/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Besides being a treat for Wilco fans, ''I Am Trying to Break Your Heart'' also exposes the workings of a profit-driven music industry." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews. Reviewing the film after its DVD release,

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

's Scott Tobias wrote, "On hand with a 16mm black-and-white camera to document the recording process, director/photographer Sam Jones came away with more than he bargained for in ''I Am Trying To Break Your Heart'', a superb portrait of a band and an industry in flux." Chris Morris, reviewing the film for ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', wrote that it was "one of the best films ever about the inevitable clash between art and commerce."

DVD releases

A DVD of the film was distributed through Plexifilm and released on April 1, 2003. (Note that there are two versions of the film on DVD: The original two-disc set, and a newer version which omits Disc 2 and is generally less expensive.) Disc 1 *The film (digital transfer, 16x9

anamorphic Anamorphic format is the cinematography technique of shooting a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film or other visual recording media with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio. It also refers to the projection format in which a distorted ...

presentation) *Feature commentary from director Sam Jones and Wilco *Original theatrical trailer *English subtitles for the hearing impaired Disc 2 *Over 70 minutes of extra footage, featuring 17 additional Wilco songs, alternate versions of songs from ''

'', live concert performances and new unreleased songs *''I Am Trying To Make A Film'' making-of featurette Plus: *Deluxe 40-page booklet with filmmaker's diary, exclusive photos and liner notes from

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

David Fricke David Fricke is an American music journalist who serves as the senior editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, where he writes predominantly about rock music. One of the best known names in rock journalism, his career has spanned over 40 years. I ...

DVD Disc 2 bonus track listing

* "Pot Kettle Black" * * "Busy Bee Monkey Song" (also known as "Monkey Mess") * "Why Would You Wanna Live" * "Pieholden Suite" * * "Acuff-Rose" * "Please Tell My Brother" * "Cars Can't Escape" * * "I'm the Man Who Loves You" * * "Magazine Called Sunset" * "Wait Up" * "Radio Cure" * * "Monday" * "Someday Soon" * "Bob Dylan's 49th Beard" * "How to Fight Loneliness" * "Not for the Season" * "Sunken Treasure" All songs written by Jeff Tweedy, except as noted *, written by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett

References

External links

* *
''I Am Trying to Break Your Heart'' at BoxOfficeMojo
{{Wilco 2002 films Rockumentaries Warner Records 2002 documentary films American documentary films Wilco 2000s English-language films 2000s American films