As you already know, I enjoy music documentaries so much it's easy I could end watching almost everything if its about music, even if the group/artist is completely opposite to my personal tastes. That's the case with "Lemmy", a rockumentary on Motörhead's leader, Ian Fraser "Lemmy" Kilmister, an undeniable hard-rock/heavy metal legend and rock icon.The good about this rockumentary is that (luckily) doesn't focus on the music, and is not a collection of footage just to please his devote fans. It is a film about Mr. Kilmister, about capturing who he is and what's behind his iconic figure. The conclusion couldn't be more striking: there's no difference between Lemmy, the "rock God" (not my opinion, you'll hear that affirmation thousands of times during the film) and Lemmy the human being. There's no Lemmy and then an Ian. Forget the usual glamorous, decadent or eccentric side of a rockstar. Forget the tortuous and extremely hard disassociation of his musician's life and his life at home. The guy is just the way he is. Always.
Many rockumentaries have their good share of interviews/comments with relevant/related people talking about what it means for them the artist/band object of the film. Many of them are really bland, but in Lemmy's case, if you let aside some worshipping and anecdotes that seem trivial (the passion, enthusiasm and consideration from the likes of Metallica or Dave Grohl looks genuine and moving), you'll hear/see a recurrent affirmation. He's real. He's the person you are seeing. There's no fake, no star-pose. For good or bad. Take it or leave it. Celebrity Joan Jett from The Runaways summarizes it: "Everybody assimilates at some point [...], go along to get along, you know, to get what they need to get... I don't see Lemmy as that kind of guy [...] I see him doing things his way to get where he wants to go. And that's attractive, because people don't do that anymore."
Lemmy's portrait is necessarily bittersweet, revealing a complex character to take an insight of. Aside from the expected account on Lemmy's role within music history, we see his everyday routine (bars and slot machines), his musical interests, his personal life, from his views on marriage to a shocking interview together with his son, his collector, more like an obsession, "mode" and (glups) peculiar tastes recalling uniforms, a little recall of his early career (the most hilarious moment of the film, with the Hawkind members trying to justify why they kicked them out of the band due to "different drugs choice") and interesting footage of his current music career: life on the road, band and crew opinions and some brilliantly filmed music clips (but if you ask me, Lemmy's voice is really annoying).
Some could say the rockumentary is a bit loose in its structure, or that, in my opinion it would flow better with a reduced length, but it succeeds well in its goal of bringing a detailed account on Kilmister, with several moments to be remembered. Even for a non Motörhead fan... well let's be honest, even for a metal hater, "Lemmy" is an absorbing film, an unusual, profound and brave attempt to show a music legend that just happens to be a complex human being, with a not very glamorous everyday life. His own life, made of his own choices. He's like a rock, unalterable despite fame, drugs, alcohol, sex, etc. He's the rock's heavy rock.
SCORE: 7,5/10
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