Over the past 50 years, Sparks, the cult band from Los Angeles, has consistently defied conventions and expectations. This year, they are in focus because they are involved with two films. The first one is the documentary about the band, The Sparks Brothers, by Edgar Wright. The second is the musical film Annette, for which they wrote the story and music. It is directed by Leos Carax and will open at the Cannes Film Festival. The title of Wright’s film derives from the fact that the group is formed by brothers Ron and Russell Mael, the former of whom is the songwriter and keyboardist, and Russell is the singer known for his wide range.
Life isn’t much, but there’s nothing else to do 1From La Dolce Vita
If the band is primarily known for their quirky musical style and Ron’s witty and occasionally acerbic lyrics, for instance, Perfume, there has always been a connection between Sparks and other art forms. This is unsurprising, considering that Ron Mael attended UCLA to study cinema and graphic arts, whereas Russell studied filmmaking and theatre arts at the same institution. The visual presentation has always been crucial in their work, both on stage and in their distinctive videos. They are both lifelong film buffs, but they have also been involved in the film industry in different ways.
When You’re a French Director, la vie is not always belle
One such instance was the film Confusion, which they were supposed to make with Jacques Tati. It was in 1974 that Tati wanted to make the film, starring the brothers as two American TV studio employees brought to a rural French TV company to help them out with some American technical expertise and input into how TV really is done. That’s the way Ron described the project. However, Tati’s financial status, combined with his declining health, complicated matters. Tati died in 1982. Five years before that, Sparks appeared in the film Rollercoaster, but it turned out to be something that the brothers came to regret.
Tsui Hark was another director whom Ron and Russell admired. In the early nineties, they wanted to make a film of a manga series called Mai, The Psychic Girl, which Hark was supposed to direct. Once again, the project didn’t come to fruition, but on their 1994 album, Gratuitous Sax and Senseless Violins, a song was called Tsui Hark, and featured the director talking about his work. Their collaboration would get yet another chapter four years later when Sparks ended up writing the score for Knock Off, directed by Hark and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. In the end, not much of Sparks’ music was used in the film, as a third person was brought in to compose the score.
The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman
Following some highly successful concerts in Stockholm in 2004, a producer from Swedish National Radio approached the Mael brothers and asked them to contribute to the radio. They were given free rein, with the sole stipulation that it should involve Sweden in some way. Thus, the musical The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman was born. It was initially broadcast in 2009, and the story is a fantasy about the director. After having watched an American film, “against his will”, Bergman finds himself transported to Hollywood. A limo driver (sung by Ron) awaits him to bring him to the studio. The story becomes darker and weirder, eventually turning into a Bergmanesque nightmare.
The role of Bergman is played by Jonas Malmsjö, who is not only the son of Jan Malmsjö, who played the bishop Vergerus in Fanny and Alexander (1982), but also worked with the director himself, notably in Ibsen’s Ghosts together with his father. The story directs several jabs at Hollywood, where the brothers’ experiences were not always the best. Their love and knowledge of cinema are best expressed in the song The Studio Commissary, where a studio chief is trying to convince Bergman that Hollywood is not so scary after all. The song contains references to multiple directors who crossed the Atlantic to work there.
The musical was performed as a stage production in Los Angeles, directed by Guy Maddin. It was dubbed a “film-to-be.” It featured director Maddin on stage, visibly giving directions and projections by his usual collaborator, Galen Johnson. Once again, the film didn’t materialise, even though it seems that Sparks has not entirely given up on the project yet.
Sparks Meets a French Director
Annette is not the first project to connect Sparks and Leos Carax. In the latter’s 2012 film Holy Motors, he uses their song How Are You Getting Home in one memorable scene. On the 2017 album Hippopotamus, there is a song called When You’re a French director, where Carax plays the accordion and also sings the director’s part, With lyrics like “When you’re a French director, you’re an auteur as well. What does that mean? Every scene must be obscure as hell”, it’s obviously tongue in cheek. And now it’s time for their joint project, Annette, to see the light of day.
Though the Earth is flat it’s not as flat as we have feared 2From This is the Renaissance
For all the great music that Sparks has created, a special mention must be made of Ron Mael’s lyrics. If he is interested in the visual look of things, he’s equally adept at creating lyrics that are not merely sharp, witty and ironic but also conjure up images or metaphors, which was even the title of a song, including lines like “A Metaphor is a breath of fresh air”. On their latest album, A Steady, Drip, Drip, Drip, a character admits in the song Self-Effacing that “Autotune has been used. Used and perhaps a trifle abused”. Sparks is currently working on their 26th album. Expect the unexpected.