Medieval to Metal Rockumentary Film Series: This is Spinal Tap 1984

To celebrate the Art Gallery of Ballarat’s Medieval to Metal exhibition, the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute is screening three iconic rock films in our historic Minerva Theatre.

Clear your palette of the recent serving of slick music documentaries with quintessential films of the ‘direct cinema’ genre.

Cult mockumentary This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984), which parodies its direct cinema predecessors in a film Dave Grohl dubbed “the only rock movie worth watching.”

In 1982, the legendary English heavy metal band Spinal Tap attempt an American comeback tour accompanied by a fan who is also a film-maker. The resulting documentary, interspersed with powerful performances of Tap’s pivotal music and profound lyrics, candidly follows a rock group heading towards crisis, culminating in the infamous affair of the eighteen-inch-high Stonehenge stage prop.

This film is being staged in conjunction with the Art Gallery of Ballarat Exhibition, Medieval to Metal: The art & evolution of the guitar. On display through until 2 February.

Director: Rob Reiner, 1984 (1hr 22m).